Authorities evacuated five western villages on Monday after tremors hit a volcanic region in the past weeks raising concerns of possible eruptions. “There was a large quake, the largest so far,” Ahmed Al-Attas, vice president of the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS), told Reuters after Civil Defence officials evacuated the villages near the town of Al-Eis. Attas was referring to a 4.68 earthquake, which hit the region on Sunday. Al-Eis, 150 km (100 miles) northeast of the Yanbu on the Red Sea, is not close to the world's top oil exporter's oil and petrochemicals facilities. The region lies on a fault line, according to SGS, which declined to comment on current magma levels, but newspapers reported that in the past few days magma levels had risen to 4 km (2.5 miles) below the surface from 8 km. Fears of an eruption in dormant volcanoes in Al-Eis have sent panic stricken residents voluntarily fleeing to the holy city of Madina and Yanbu last week. Some residents reportedly resorted to sleeping in the open air and hundreds gathered at petrol stations in Al-Eis town preparing to leave the region. Civil Defense had earlier recorded a number of voluntary evacuations following two strong tremors that led to Al-Eis residents gathering in large numbers to register their names on evacuation check
