Have you ever slept through an Earthquake? Many people do, thinking their husband or wife has just rolled over – ouch. The Romania Earthquake on 6th October 2013 measured 5.5 with a variety of aftershocks either side. Being British I don’t tend to run for the hills in either case but Romania has a history to be wary of.
In 1986 below the Vrancea Mountains a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit at 21.28 on 30th August, killing over 150 people, several hundred injured and tens of thousands of homes damaged. The closest capital city is Bucharest which very occasionally feels tremors around 3.0 on the Richter Scale. There is usually one noticeable earthquake in a year.
The last major earthquake to hit Bucharest was the 4th March 1977 Vrancea earthquake which killed over 1,400 in Bucharest and over 1500 in total, mainly due to badly constructed and pre-world war II apartment blocks. This quake measured 7.2 on the richter scale with over 35,000 buildings damaged and Zimnicea reduced to rubble.
Reports coming out about the Romanian earthquake 5.5 on 6th October 2013 are suggesting that this latest tremor and successive after shocks are all quite strange, particularly as the region of Galati is suffering the most with over one hundred tremors in the last month. However it’s not as if the Vrancea Mountains are unknown to be the centre point of activity in the area.
My first experience of an Earthquake in the UK was the Dudley earthquake in 2002 which measured 4.7, that in itself was quite a rumble. However this 5.5 Romania Earthquake on 6th October 2013 I slept through, only waking up to hear the last of the walls shaking in the house in Cotroceni.
It’s a reminder that mother nature is all powerful. Depending on the veracity of the earthquake, picture frames might fall and also structural damage even at 5.5. Should you need to ever fix things around your home in the aftermath, you can always get your tools and equipment here.
Update: Romania Earthquake 4.4 to 4.9 15th October 2013
Just had another earthquake. This time I’m six floors up and it’s being recorded as 4.4 to 4.8 / 4.9 again from the Vrancea Mountain range and 799 km from the Kenger Volcano.
Not many would have noticed it in Bucharest however as they were watch the national football team nearing the end of beating Estonia 2.0. Any rumble was deafened by the crowd in the stadium. Sitting on a rocking chair from Ikea and being tired, I thought it was my body or someone else shaking the sofa.
The conversation centred around the same thoughts. If you drill down, Romania has had dozens of earthquakes in the last few weeks with towns closer faring worse, not wishing to tempt fate but as long as the small ones like these keep occurring then those tectonic plates are shifting just fine. I have a feeling a bigger one is coming though.
Previous to the last one on the 6th there was an earthquake in Pakistan, then previous to today, the Philippines. Obviously it’s all connected but here’s to the smaller ones occurring!
