Vrancea earthquake in 1977
| Vrancea earthquake in 1977 | |||
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| Coordinates | 45 ° 46 '12 " N , 26 ° 45' 36" E | ||
| date | March 4th 1977 | ||
| Time | 9:21 p.m. local time | ||
| Magnitude | 7.2 M L | ||
| depth | 94 km | ||
| epicenter |
Vrâncioaia , Vrancea County
(about 35 km northwest of Focșani )
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| country | Romania | ||
| Affected places | |||
| dead | 1,500+ | ||
| Injured | 10,500+ | ||
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The 1977 Vrancea earthquake had its epicenter in the Romanian district of Vrancea . It happened on March 4 at 9:21:54 p.m. local time (7:21:54 p.m. UTC , i.e. 8:21:54 p.m. CET ). With a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale , it was one of the strongest earthquakes in Europe to date. More than 1,500 people were killed.
course
From the epicenter in the Vrancea zone , the quake spread asymmetrically. It had the greatest impact south of the area of origin. In Brașov, 80 km from the epicenter, and further north in Transylvania , only minor damage was caused. It lasted 52 seconds.
The tremors were felt throughout Romania and in other countries in Southeast Europe.
The earthquake was followed by an average of 10 to 15 aftershocks a day. The strongest of these aftershocks within the first week had an intensity of 4.3 on the Richter scale.
At the time of the first quake, the then President of Romania, Nicolae Ceaușescu, was on a business trip in Nigeria. That same night he flew back to Romania and thereupon imposed a national state of emergency by presidential decree .
consequences
building
The greatest destruction occurred in Bucharest . 35 older, multi-story buildings collapsed, mostly in the center of the city. Even three more modern buildings could not withstand the quake. In addition, further damage occurred throughout the city, but this did not lead to the collapse of the affected buildings. Most of the small buildings and many of the more modern structures remained undamaged. There were no notable fires, but electricity in a large part of the city went out for about a day.
The quake also affected medical care for the injured. Nine of the city's 35 hospitals had to be evacuated for security reasons.
Damage also occurred outside of Romania. In Bulgaria, the earthquake, also known there as the “Zhivtov earthquake”, led to the collapse of three blocks in the northern city of Swishtov . Several people died in the process. In today's Republic of Moldova , several buildings were damaged, some severely. Several people were also killed and panic broke out in the capital, Chișinău .
Victim
In total, more than 1,500 people were killed in the earthquake and another 10,500 were injured. Over 100 dead and several hundred injured were reported from Bulgaria, mainly from the city of Swishtov . The number of deaths in the Moldovan Soviet Republic was never given by the Soviet authorities. Several well-known personalities were also among the dead, such as the Romanian actor Toma Caragiu , the Romanian writer Anatol E. Baconsky and the singer Doina Badea .
See also
- List of earthquakes
- Earthquake areas of the earth
- On November 10, 1940 an earthquake also occurred in Vrancea, at that time with a magnitude of 7.4 or 7.7 on the Richter scale.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c earthquake.usgs.gov.ro ( Memento of the original from February 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , US Geological Survey, World Major Earthquakes
- ^ A b c Preliminary Report of the March 4, 1977 Romania Earthquake , Newsletter earthquake engineering research institute, volume 11, No. 3b. May 1977
- ^ Preliminary Report of the March 4, 1977 Romania Earthquake , Newsletter earthquake engineering research institute, volume 11, No. 3b. May 1977. pp. 20f.
- ↑ Svishtov commemorates memory of 1977 earthquake victims , bnr.bg April 3, 2012
