This is a list of earthquakes in Romania, including any notable historical
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...
s that have epicenters within the current boundaries of Romania, or which caused significant effects in this area.
Seismic hazard
The seismicity of Romania is clustered in several epicentral zones:
Vrancea,
Făgăraș
Făgăraș (; german: Fogarasch, Fugreschmarkt, hu, Fogaras) is a city in central Romania, located in Brașov County. It lies on the Olt River and has a population of 28,330 as of 2011. It is situated in the historical region of Transylvania, and ...
-
Câmpulung
Câmpulung (also spelled ''Cîmpulung'', , german: Langenau, Old Romanian ''Dlăgopole'', ''Длъгополе'' (from Middle Bulgarian)), or ''Câmpulung Muscel'', is a municipality in the Argeș County, Muntenia, Romania. It is situated amon ...
,
Banat
Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...
,
Crișana
Crișana ( hu, Körösvidék, german: Kreischgebiet) is a geographical and historical region in north-western Romania, named after the Criș (Körös) River and its three tributaries: the Crișul Alb, Crișul Negru, and Crișul Repede. In Rom ...
,
Maramureș
or Marmaroshchyna ( ro, Maramureș ; uk, Мармарощина, Marmaroshchyna; hu, Máramaros) is a geographical, historical and cultural region in northern Romania and western Ukraine. It is situated in the northeastern Carpathians, alon ...
, and
Southern Dobrogea. Other epicentral zones of local importance can be found in
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
, in the area of
Jibou and
Târnava River
The Târnava (full name in ro, Râul Târnava; hu, Küküllő; german: Kokel; tr, Kokul or Kokulu) is a river in Romania. It is formed by the confluence of the Târnava Mare and Târnava Mică in the town of Blaj. The Târnava flows into the ...
, in the northern and western part of
Oltenia
Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...
, in northern
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...
, and the
Wallachian Plain
The Romanian Plain ( ro, Câmpia Română) is located in southern Romania and the easternmost tip of Serbia, where it is known as the Wallachian Plain ( sr, Vlaška nizija/Влашка низија). Part of the historical region of Wallachia, it ...
. The Vrancea seismogenic zone is the most important among these seismic zones, having in mind the energy, the extent of the macroseismic effects, and the persistent and confined character of the earthquakes that occur in this area. The Vrancea area is responsible for over 90% of all earthquakes in Romania, releasing over 95% of the seismic energy. Two belts of moderate and shallower seismicity are emphasized in the other regions of the country: one along the
Southern Carpathians
The Southern Carpathians (also known as the Transylvanian Alps; ro, Carpații Meridionali ; hu, Déli-Kárpátok) are a group of mountain ranges located in southern Romania. They cover the part of the Carpathian Mountains located between the Pr ...
and the eastern edge of the
Pannonian Basin
The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only th ...
, the other along the
Eastern Carpathians
Divisions of the Carpathians are a categorization of the Carpathian mountains system.
Below is a detailed overview of the major subdivisions and ranges of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians are a "subsystem" of a bigger Alps-Himalaya Sy ...
that extends towards SE on the
Peceneaga
Peceneaga is a commune in Tulcea County, Northern Dobruja, Romania, on the Danube's east bank. It is composed of a single village, Peceneaga.
According to the 2021 census, the commune has a population 1,465, of which almost all are people of Rom ...
–
Camena line.
During the last 1,000 years, according to historical data, it is thought that 17 earthquakes of 7 and over magnitude have occurred, which suggests a means for unleashing the energy every 58 years. Statistically, the magnitude 6 and over earthquakes in the
Vrancea area occur approximately every 10 years, with magnitude 7 every 33 years, while those with 7.5 magnitudes every 80 years.
"Earthquake Risk Perception in Bucharest, Romania"
''Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences''
Earthquakes
Earthquakes listed in the following tables include only M6.0+ events or earthquakes with significant material damage or casualties. All seismic events are shown in detail in th
ROMPLUS catalog
of the National Institute for Earth Physics. It collected information from the catalog of Constantinescu and Mîrza (1980) for the period 984–1997. After 1997, the catalog was permanently filled and updated with data on seismic events produced in Romania and around national borders.
Gallery
File:Turnul Colţei, 1841.jpg, Turnul Colței
''Turnul Colței'' (also ''Turnul Colțea'' or ''Colții'') was a tower located in Bucharest, Wallachia, now in Romania. Its initial purpose was to be used as a bell tower — its bell, was moved to the Sinaia Monastery after the tower was de ...
heavily damaged by the 1802 Vrancea earthquake
File:Iosif Berman - Marele cutremur din anul 1940.jpg, Rescue operations at Carlton Bloc after the 1940 Vrancea earthquake
File:1977 Biserica Ienei foto 5.jpg, Enei Church was nearly destroyed during the 1977 Vrancea earthquake.
File:1977 Vrancea earthquake.jpg, USGS ShakeMap for the 1977 event.
File:1990 RO quake.jpg, USGS ShakeMap for the 1990 event.
File:2004 Vrancea earthquake shakemap.jpg, USGS ShakeMap for the 2004 event.
See also
*Geology of Romania
The geology of Romania is structurally complex, with evidence of past crustal movements and the incorporation of different blocks or platforms to the edge of Europe, driving recent mountain building of the Carpathian Mountains. Romania is a country ...
* List of earthquakes in Vrancea County
References
External links
The National Institute for Research and Development for Earth Physics - NIEP
* ttp://www.cutremur.net/topic/792-lista-cutremurelor-din-romania-incepand-din-anul-1800/ ''Cutremur.net'' – List of earthquakes in Romania since 1800br>''Geodin.ro'' – Romanian seismology
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20140924223430/https://www1.infp.ro/seismicitate-locala/seismicitatea-romaniei ''National Institute for Earth Physics'' – List of earthquakes in Romaniabr>Seismic map of Bucharest
{{Europe topic, List of earthquakes in
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
Earthquakes
Earthquakes