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Naples Struck by 4.4-Magnitude Quake Causing Minor Damage and Light Injuries 

Debris lays on the street following an earthquake in Bagnoli, on the outskirts of Naples, Italy, 13 March 2025. (EPA)
Debris lays on the street following an earthquake in Bagnoli, on the outskirts of Naples, Italy, 13 March 2025. (EPA)
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Naples Struck by 4.4-Magnitude Quake Causing Minor Damage and Light Injuries 

Debris lays on the street following an earthquake in Bagnoli, on the outskirts of Naples, Italy, 13 March 2025. (EPA)
Debris lays on the street following an earthquake in Bagnoli, on the outskirts of Naples, Italy, 13 March 2025. (EPA)

The southern Italian city of Naples was struck by a 4.4-magnitude quake early Thursday that caused only minor damage and sent 11 people to the hospital, the most serious suffering contusions after part of a ceiling collapsed, officials said.

The quake was the strongest in recorded history around the Phlegrean Fields, a sprawling area of ancient volcanoes that covers a broad swath of the Naples metropolitan area. It matched the magnitude of another quake in the same area last May that has put the population on alert.

Residents shaken awake by the early-morning quake sought safety in the streets, as they did in May.

The temblor, which loosened stone and cement from some facades, was centered just offshore from Pozzuoli, a seaside suburb bordering Naples. Mayor Gaetano Manfredi told reporters that one church, a seven-story residential building and another building were declared off-limits due to damage, and some schools were closed as a precaution.

Inspectors were checking buildings for further damage, Manfredi said. “We are following with the greatest attention all of our structures, and are monitoring all events in real time,” the mayor said.

In all, 11 people sought hospital treatment. One woman was injured after part of a ceiling fell, and several others suffered cuts from glass that broke in the quake, Manfredi said.

Seismologists have reported a fresh increase in activity around the Phlegrean Fields over recent weeks. Authorities last summer conducted drills in preparation for a major emergency as the frequency of temblors increased.

The area around the Phlegrean Fields, which encompasses western neighborhoods of Naples and its suburbs, is both seismically and volcanically active. The surface has been pushed up 1.3 meters (4.3 feet) since 2006, which is higher than prior to the last major event in 1984, but seismologists have emphasized it is impossible to predict when an eruption or stronger quake might occur.

At least 500,000 people live in the zone most at risk should the volcano erupt. Italy's national institute for geophysics and vulcanology has called for a governmental plan to ensure that structures can withstand a quake of at least a magnitude 5.0.

During the 1984 event, 40,000 residents were evacuated during a period of intense seismic activity as a precaution against a feared eruption that did not occur.

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NASA's Stuck Astronauts are Finally on their Way Back to Earth after 9 Months in Space

In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP)
In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP)
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NASA's Stuck Astronauts are Finally on their Way Back to Earth after 9 Months in Space

In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP)
In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP)

NASA’s two stuck astronauts headed back to Earth with SpaceX on Tuesday to close out a dramatic marathon mission that began with a bungled Boeing test flight more than nine months ago.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams bid farewell to the International Space Station — their home since last spring — departing aboard a SpaceX capsule alongside two other astronauts. The capsule undocked in the wee hours and aimed for a splashdown off the Florida coast by early evening, weather permitting.

The two expected to be gone just a week or so after launching on Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on June 5. So many problems cropped up on the way to the space station that NASA eventually sent Starliner back empty and transferred the test pilots to SpaceX, pushing their homecoming into February. Then SpaceX capsule issues added another month’s delay.

Sunday’s arrival of their relief crew meant Wilmore and Williams could finally leave. NASA cut them loose a little early, given the iffy weather forecast later this week. They checked out with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov, who arrived in their own SpaceX capsule last fall with two empty seats reserved for the Starliner duo.

“We'll miss you, but have a great journey home,” NASA's Anne McClain called out from the space station as the capsule pulled away 260 miles (418 kilometers) above the Pacific.

Their plight captured the world’s attention, giving new meaning to the phrase “stuck at work.” While other astronauts had logged longer spaceflights over the decades, none had to deal with so much uncertainty or see the length of their mission expand by so much.

Wilmore and Williams quickly transitioned from guests to full-fledged station crew members, conducting experiments, fixing equipment and even spacewalking together. With 62 hours over nine spacewalks, Williams set a new record: the most time spent spacewalking over a career among female astronauts.

Both had lived on the orbiting lab before and knew the ropes, and brushed up on their station training before rocketing away. Williams became the station's commander three months into their stay and held the post until earlier this month.

Their mission took an unexpected twist in late January when President Donald Trump asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to accelerate the astronauts’ return and blamed the delay on the Biden administration. The replacement crew’s brand new SpaceX capsule still wasn’t ready to fly, so SpaceX subbed it with a used one, hurrying things along by at least a few weeks.

Even in the middle of the political storm, Wilmore and Williams continued to maintain an even keel at public appearances from orbit, casting no blame and insisting they supported NASA’s decisions from the start.

NASA hired SpaceX and Boeing after the shuttle program ended, in order to have two competing US companies for transporting astronauts to and from the space station until it's abandoned in 2030 and steered to a fiery reentry. By then, it will have been up there more than three decades; the plan is to replace it with privately run stations so NASA can focus on moon and Mars expeditions.

Both retired Navy captains, Wilmore and Williams stressed they didn’t mind spending more time in space — a prolonged deployment reminiscent of their military days. But they acknowledged it was tough on their families.

Wilmore, 62, missed most of his younger daughter’s senior year of high school; his older daughter is in college. Williams, 59, had to settle for internet calls from space to her mother. They’ll have to wait until they’re off the SpaceX recovery ship and flown to Houston before the long-awaited reunion with their loved ones.