This list of earthquakes in Bulgaria is organized by date and includes events that caused injuries/fatalities, historic quakes, as well events that are notable for other reasons.
Earthquakes
Key
- Epicenter outside Bulgaria
Name | Date | Epicentre | Mag. | MMI | Depth (km) | Notes | Deaths | Injuries |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1802 Vrancea earthquake | 1802-10-14 | Vrancea Mountains, Romania | 7.9 | VIII | 150.0 | The cities of Ruse, Silistra, Varna and Vidin were almost completely destroyed.[1] | ||
1818 Sofia earthquake | 1818-04-25 | near Sofia | 6.0 | VII | ||||
1838 Vrancea earthquake | 1838-01-11 | Vrancea Mountains, Romania | 7.5 | VII | Felt across much of the country, damage reported in northern Bulgaria. | |||
1858 Sofia earthquake | 1858-09-30 | near Sofia | 6.6 | IX | 9.0 | 70-80% of buildings in Sofia suffered damage. | 4 | |
1901 Black Sea earthquake | 1901-03-31 | off Cape Kaliakra | 7.2 | X | 14.0 | More than 1,200 houses destroyed. Quake generated a 4–5 m high tsunami that devastated coastal communities on both sides of the Bulgarian-Romanian border. | 4 | 50+ |
1904 Kresna earthquakes | 1904-04-04 | near Krupnik | 7.2 Ms [2] | 11.0 | One of the largest shallow 20th century earthquakes on land in the Balkans, preceded by a very powerful 7.1 foreshock. Felt as far away as Budapest, Hungary. | 200+ | ||
1908 Gorna Oryahovitza earthquake | 1908-01-10 | near Gorna Oryahovitza | 7.0 | First quake locally measured via seismograph, after one was installed in Sofia in 1905. | ||||
1909 Gorna Oryahovitza earthquake | 1909-04-14 | near Gorna Oryahovitza | 7.0 | |||||
1913 Ruse earthquake | 1913-06-14 | southwest of Ruse | 6.6[3] | 15.0 | 37 | |||
1928 Chirpan–Plovdiv earthquakes | 1928-04-14 | near Chirpan | 7.1 and 7.1[4] | IX | 10.0 | Followed by a 7.1 aftershock at a depth of 15.0 km on April 18. More than 26,000 buildings were destroyed, another 21,000 were severely damaged. | 107 | 500 |
1942 Razgrad earthquake | 1942-03-17 | near Razgrad | 5.1 | Large parts of the city were damaged. | ||||
1977 Vrancea earthquake | 1977-03-04 | Vrancea Mountains, Romania | 7.2 | VIII | 94.0 | Most casualties occurred in Svishtov when several apartment buildings collapsed.[5] Widely felt across the entire country, with minor damage reported as far south as Plovdiv. | 120 | 165 |
1977 Velingrad earthquake | 1977-11-03 | near Velingrad | 5.2[6] | VI | 6.0 | Nearly 800 buildings were damaged across several counties. | ||
1986 Strazhitsa earthquake | 1986-12-07 | near Strazhitsa | 5.6[7] | VII | 20.5 | 80% of buildings in Strazhitsa were deemed 'uninhabitable' after the quake, with 150 being completely destroyed. The town was later rebuilt. | 3 | 80 |
1990 Vrancea earthquakes | 1990-05-30 | Vrancea Mountains, Romania | 6.7 | V | 89.0 | Moderate damage in northeastern Bulgaria. Main event was followed by a 6.1 aftershock on May 31. | 1 | |
2004 Vrancea earthquake | 2004-10-27 | Vrancea Mountains, Romania | 6.0 | V | Felt across the country, some damage reported in northeastern Bulgaria. | |||
2012 Pernik earthquake | 2012-05-22 | near Pernik | 5.6[8] | VI | 10.0 | Caused at least €11,000,000 worth of damage, mostly in Pernik, and to a lesser degree in the capital Sofia. | 1 | |
2014 Aegean Sea earthquake | 2014-05-24 | Aegean Sea | 6.9 | V | 6.4 | Widely felt across southern Bulgaria, minor damage reported in areas close to the Greek border. |
Gallery
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Bent rails after the 1928 Chirpan earthquake
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King Boris III of Bulgaria meeting with people from Plovdiv in the aftermath of the 1928 quake
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The Catholic Hospital in Plovdiv after the 1928 quake
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One of the three towers of the Republika Power Plant in Pernik collapsed after the 2012 earthquake
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USGS seismic hazard map showing Bulgaria, as well as the Vrancea Mountains fault in central Romania
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Bulgarian Academy of Sciences seismic hazard map showing maximum acceleration for a repeat period of 475 years
See also
External links
- Seismic events in Bulgaria and surrounding regions, last 30 days – real time data from NIGGG-BAS
References
- ^ Popescu, I. G. (May–June 1941). Étude comparative sur quelques tremblements de terre de Roumanie, du type du celui du 10 novembre 1940 (in French). Bucharest: Cartea Romaneasca.
- ^ Ambraseys, N. (2001). "The Kresna earthquake of 1904 in Bulgaria". Annals of Geophysics. 44 (1): 102. doi:10.4401/ag-3614.
- ^ "M 6.6 – Bulgaria". United States Geological Survey. March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
- ^ "M 7.1 – Bulgaria". United States Geological Survey. March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
- ^ "Svishtov commemorates memory of 1977 earthquake victims". bnr.bg. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
- ^ "M 5.2 – Bulgaria". United States Geological Survey. March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
- ^ "M 5.6 – Bulgaria". United States Geological Survey. March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
- ^ "M 5.6 – Bulgaria". United States Geological Survey. March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.