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Earthquake shakes parts of Bulgaria, Romania

Sat, Apr 25 2009 21:34 CET 8643 Views 11 Comments
Earthquake shakes parts of Bulgaria, Romania

Earthquake shakes parts of Bulgaria, Romania

Photo: Valentina Petrova

An earthquake of about 5.3 on the Richter scale shook northern Bulgaria and parts of Romania at about 8.20pm on April 25 2009.

Initial reports from seismologists said that the epicentre was in the region of Vrancea mountain in Romania, about 145km north east of Bucharest and about 400km from Sofia, with the quake emanating from a depth of about 114km.

Bulgarian National Television (BNT) said that the quake was felt in the Bulgarian cities and towns of Pleven, Varna, Dobrich, Svishtov and Belene. Other Bulgarian-language media said that residents of Rousse, on the Danube bordering Romania, felt the quake "strongly" and some fled high-rise flats.

While in a number of the cities in Bulgaria and Romania that felt the quake, people left their homes to stand in the streets outside, initially there were no reports of serious injuries or damage.

Svishtov residents returned inside after about an hour. The town has vivid memories of 1977, when it was among the places hardest hit by an earthquake in which more than 100 people in the town died, among the more than 1500 Bulgarians and Romanians reported killed at the time by the quake, which also destroyed more than 8000 buildings.

A resident of a Bucharest, severely shaken by the quake told BNT by telephone that people had been frightened at the time of the incident, but calm had returned.

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Comments

Anonymous mikehast Sat, Jun 19 2010 13:24 CET

Earthquake shakes parts of Bulgaria, Romania ... of the Gaza Strip and allow more civilian goods to enter the Palestinian territory.Italian scientist Giampaolo Giuliani predicted weeks ago a serious earthquake was on the way and would have a devastating effect on the central Italian region around L'Aquila.

Anonymous hey Thu, Mar 11 2010 02:07 CET

Tha is good nobody was hur

Anonymous khalid Wed, Aug 05 2009 15:00 CET

god with him

AnonymousHAHAHAHAHAThu, May 28 2009 05:37 CET

This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained

AnonymousHAHAHAHAHAThu, May 28 2009 05:37 CET

This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained

Anonymous hoosier Tue, Apr 28 2009 17:24 CET

A reminder to Greenpeace, Chernobyl was a human disaster, caused by a test in the wee hours of the morning by tried employees, who had shut down the emergency coolant. Bulgaria needs energy that the people can afford. Nuclear is the best solution.

Anonymous Jan Haverkamp - Greenpeace Sun, Apr 26 2009 14:48 CET

No casualties, no damage. Good. But a timely reminder on the eve of Chernobyl Day that it is a bad idea to build the Belene nuclear power plant and the Cernavoda nuclear power plant in this seismic zone.

Anonymous Sandra Sun, Apr 26 2009 12:05 CET

we are in Vidin and we didnt feel a thing !

Anonymous Nils Sun, Apr 26 2009 00:43 CET

I live in Braila. I felt it but it wasn't that strong. Lasted only about 10 seconds.

Anonymous IE Sun, Apr 26 2009 00:35 CET

*good

Anonymous Ionut Enache Sun, Apr 26 2009 00:20 CET

Yeap, it was a ggo shake here in Vrancea

Anonymous lennyboy29 Sat, Apr 25 2009 23:18 CET

I talked to friends in Braila Romania and they were shaken up pretty good.

Anonymous Ralph Gordon Sat, Apr 25 2009 23:05 CET

We also felt it in Chisinau, Moldova. Someone said it was about a 4 on the richter scale.


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