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.
Contents
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.
Key
| 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. 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 [5] | VI | 6.0 | Nearly 800 buildings were damaged across several counties. | ||
| 1986 Strazhitsa earthquake | 1986-12-07 | near Strazhitsa | 5.6 [6] | 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 [7] | 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. | ||
Earthquakes are caused by movements within the Earth's crust and uppermost mantle. They range from events too weak to be detectable except by sensitive instrumentation, to sudden and violent events lasting many minutes which have caused some of the greatest disasters in human history. Below, earthquakes are listed by period, region or country, year, magnitude, cost, fatalities and number of scientific studies.
The New Madrid Seismic Zone, sometimes called the New Madrid Fault Line, is a major seismic zone and a prolific source of intraplate earthquakes in the Southern and Midwestern United States, stretching to the southwest from New Madrid, Missouri.
Peak ground acceleration (PGA) is equal to the maximum ground acceleration that occurred during earthquake shaking at a location. PGA is equal to the amplitude of the largest absolute acceleration recorded on an accelerogram at a site during a particular earthquake. Earthquake shaking generally occurs in all three directions. Therefore, PGA is often split into the horizontal and vertical components. Horizontal PGAs are generally larger than those in the vertical direction but this is not always true, especially close to large earthquakes. PGA is an important parameter for earthquake engineering, The design basis earthquake ground motion (DBEGM) is often defined in terms of PGA.
The 2003 Alabama earthquake took place on April 29 at 3:59 A.M. Central Daylight Time eight miles (13 km) east-northeast of Fort Payne, Alabama. The number of people who felt this quake was exceptionally high as the earthquake could be felt in 11 states across the East Coast and as far north as southern Indiana. The earthquake was strongly felt throughout metropolitan Atlanta. The Georgia Building Authority was called out to inspect the historic Georgia State Capitol in downtown Atlanta and other state-owned buildings but found no problems. However, this is not out of the ordinary as earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains can be felt several times the area felt on West Coast earthquakes. The earthquake was given a magnitude 4.6 on the moment magnitude scale by the USGS and reports of the duration of the shaking range from 10 seconds to as long as 45 seconds. It is tied with a 1973 earthquake near Knoxville, Tennessee as the strongest earthquake ever to occur in the Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone, which is the second most active seismic zone east of the Rocky Mountains, with the New Madrid Seismic Zone the most active.
The Virginia Seismic Zone in the U.S. state of Virginia covers about 8,000 square kilometers (3,100 sq mi) in the Piedmont province. Earthquakes in the state are irregular and rarely reach over 4.5 in magnitude.
The 2008 Dodecanese earthquake occurred near Kattavia on the island of Rhodes in the eastern Mediterranean Sea on 15 July. The quake struck at 06:26 a.m. local time (UTC+3) and one woman was killed when she slipped and fell as she tried to flee her home. However, the earthquake did not cause any major damage. The earthquake was felt across the entire eastern Mediterranean, as far west as Libya, and inland as far as Damascus.
The 1867 Manhattan earthquake struck Riley County, Kansas, in the United States on April 24, 1867, at 20:22 UTC, or about 14:30 local time. The strongest earthquake to originate in the state, it measured 5.1 on a seismic scale that is based on an isoseismal map or the event's felt area. The earthquake's epicenter was near the town of Manhattan.
The 2011 Oklahoma earthquake was a 5.7 magnitude intraplate earthquake which occurred near Prague, Oklahoma on November 5 at 10:53 p.m. CDT in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The epicenter of the earthquake was in the vicinity of several active wastewater injection wells. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), it was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Oklahoma; this record was surpassed by the 2016 Oklahoma earthquake. The previous record was a 5.5 magnitude earthquake that struck near the town of El Reno in 1952. The quake's epicenter was approximately 44 miles (71 km) east-northeast of Oklahoma City, near the town of Sparks and was felt in the neighboring states of Texas, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri and even as far away as Tennessee and Wisconsin. The quake followed several minor quakes earlier in the day, including a 4.7 magnitude foreshock. The quake had a maximum perceived intensity of VIII (Severe) on the Mercalli intensity scale in the area closest to the epicenter. Numerous aftershocks were detected after the main quake, with a few registering at 4.0 magnitude.
The Oklahoma earthquake swarms are an ongoing series of human activity-induced earthquakes affecting central Oklahoma, southern Kansas, northern Texas since 2009. Beginning in 2009, the frequency of earthquakes in the U.S. state of Oklahoma rapidly increased from an average of fewer than two 3.0+ magnitude earthquakes per year since 1978 to hundreds each year in the 2014–17 period. Thousands of earthquakes have occurred in Oklahoma and surrounding areas in southern Kansas and North Texas since 2009. Scientific studies attribute the rise in earthquakes to the disposal of wastewater produced during oil extraction that has been injected more deeply into the ground.
The 2016 Oklahoma earthquake occurred on September 3, 2016 near Pawnee, Oklahoma. Measuring 5.8 on the moment magnitude scale, it is the strongest in state history. At 5.8 magnitude, this ties it with the 2011 Virginia earthquake, which was determined after it struck to be the most powerful quake in the eastern United States in the preceding 70 years.
On May 4, 2018, an earthquake with a magnitude of Mw 6.9 struck Hawaii island in the Hawaii archipelago at around 12:33 p.m. local time. The earthquake's epicenter was near the south flank of Kīlauea, which has been the site of seismic and volcanic activity since late April of that year. According to the United States Geological Survey the quake was related to the new lava outbreaks at the volcano, and it resulted in the Hilina Slump moving about two feet. It was the largest earthquake to affect Hawaii since the 1975 earthquake, which affected the same region, killing two people and injuring another 28.
An earthquake measuring 4.4 MW on the moment magnitude scale struck 6.8 miles (10.9 km) north-northeast of Decatur, Tennessee in the eastern part of the state on December 12, 2018 at 4:14 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 9.0 kilometers (5.6 mi). The earthquake occurred along the Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone (ETSZ), a geographic band stretching from northeastern Alabama to southwestern Virginia that is subject to frequent small earthquakes. The earthquake was felt throughout the Southeast, primarily in eastern Tennessee and the Atlanta metropolitan area. While relatively minor, this earthquake was the largest to occur on the ETSZ since the 4.6 MW 2003 Alabama earthquake, the third largest to have been recorded in the area, becoming the fourth largest earthquake recorded in the region. Robert Sanders from the U.S. Geological Survey told WSB-TV that aftershocks would be possible throughout the day after the quake.
The 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes of July 4 and 5 occurred north and northeast of the town of Ridgecrest, California located in Kern County and west of Searles Valley. They included three initial main shocks of Mw magnitudes 6.4, 5.4, and 7.1, and many perceptible aftershocks, mainly within the area of the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. Eleven months later, a Mw 5.5 aftershock took place to the east of Ridgecrest. The first main shock occurred on Thursday, July 4 at 10:33 a.m. PDT, approximately 18 km (11.2 mi) ENE of Ridgecrest, and 13 km (8.1 mi) WSW of Trona, on a previously unnoticed NE-SW trending fault where it intersects the NW-SE trending Little Lake Fault Zone. This quake was preceded by several smaller earthquakes, and was followed by more than 1,400 detected aftershocks. The M 5.4 and M 7.1 quakes struck on Friday, July 5 at 4:08 a.m. and 8:19 p.m. PDT approximately 10 km (6 miles) to the northwest. The latter, now considered the mainshock, was the most powerful earthquake to occur in the state in 20 years. Subsequent aftershocks extended approximately 50 km (~30 miles) along the Little Lake Fault Zone.
The 2020 Central Idaho earthquake occurred in the western United States on March 31, 2020, at 5:52 PM MDT, near Ruffneck Peak in the Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho, 72 miles (116 km) northeast of Boise and 19 miles (31 km) northwest of Stanley. It had a magnitude of 6.5 and was felt with a maximum intensity of VIII.
The 2020 Sparta earthquake was a relatively uncommon intraplate earthquake that occurred near the small town of Sparta, North Carolina, on August 9, 2020 at 8:07 am local time. The earthquake had a moment magnitude of 5.1, and a shallow depth of 7.6 kilometers (4.7 mi). Shaking was reported throughout the Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States. It was the strongest earthquake recorded in North Carolina in 104 years, the second-strongest in the state's history, and the largest to strike the East Coast since the 2011 Virginia earthquake.
An earthquake occurred off the coast of the Alaska Peninsula on July 28, 2021, at 10:15 p.m. local time. The large megathrust earthquake had a moment magnitude of 8.2 according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). A tsunami warning was issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) but later cancelled. The mainshock was followed by a number of aftershocks, including three that were of magnitude 5.9, 6.1 and 6.9 respectively.
The 2021 South Sandwich Islands earthquakes were a pair of powerful earthquakes, followed by many strong aftershocks which struck along the South Sandwich Trench in August 2021. The quakes measured 7.5 and 8.1 on the moment magnitude scale, according to the United States Geological Survey. The mainshock is tied with another event in 1929 as the largest earthquake ever recorded in this region, and is tied with the 2021 Kermadec Islands earthquake as the second largest earthquake of 2021.