Nature, Earthquakes, Romania

455 July 10 AD. It destroyed several towns and villages in Transylvania.

C. 543 AD. A 7.5 magnitude earthquake with the epicenter in Dionysopolis, Dobrich Province, Bulgaria. Large tsunami on the Dobrujan shore of the Black Sea. The Roman fortress of Capidava, Constanța County, is destroyed.

815 August AD. Strong earthquakes, for five days, from the Balkans to the Carpathians, resulting in severe damage.

1092 July 6 AD. Catastrophic earthquakes which last eight days. It causes huge losses in the Tisza area, also affecting Sătmar.

1348 January 25 AD. A large earthquake in the Danube basin. 40 shocks in one day, strongly felt in Hungary, Italy, southern Germany, etc.

1443 June 5 AD. An earthquake with the epicenter in the Pannonian Plain. Parts of the Royal Palace, walls of the Citadel of Angevins, and many other buildings in Timișoara collapse. The St. Ladislau Cathedral in Oradea is destroyed.

1471 August 29 AD. A 7.1 earthquake. The church of Neamț Monastery and the Neboisei Tower of Suceava Fortress are severely damaged. In Brașov, a part of Mount Tâmpa slips over the city, and the citadel of Radu cel Frumos in Bucharest is reported in ruins.

1516 November 24 AD. Epicenter in Vrancea County. Several houses were destroyed and significant damage to the surrounding wall of Brașov. Also felt in Suceava.

1523 November 19 AD. Epicenter in Mediaş, Sibiu County, and a 4.7 magnitude. Light damage reported in Mediaș. The pillars of the Evangelical Church in Sebeș collapse. Album Oltardianum indicates 20 houses collapsed in Sibiu, while the Chronicle of Hutter reports many deaths among the old population.

1550 October 26 AD. A 6.5 magnitude earthquake. A large earthquake in southern Transylvania.

1590 August 10 AD. A 6.5 magnitude earthquake. A large earthquake in southeastern Transylvania, with disastrous effects in Brașov, Râșnov, Sibiu, and Mediaș.

1603 May 5 AD. The strongest earthquake ever recorded inside the Carpathian arch. Also felt in Košice, Slovakia.

1620 November 8 AD. Vrancea County 6.9 magnitude earthquake.

1679 August 9 AD. Vrancea County 6.7 magnitude earthquake.

1681 August 18 AD. Vrancea County 7.1 magnitude earthquake. The earthquake damages a dungeon in Suceava Fortress, in Moldavia.

1738 June 11 AD. Vrancea County 7.7 magnitude earthquake. Four mosques collapse in Nicopolis, the fortress of Niš, on the Serbian side of the Danube, which reports significant damage. 11 monasteries, 15 houses, 15 towers, and a church steeple collapsed in Iași, while the walls and towers of the Prince’s Court in Bucharest are destroyed.

1802 October 26 AD. Vrancea County 7.9 – 8.2 magnitude earthquake. Chronicles and records of the Orthodox Church indicate extensive damage to churches and tall buildings in Bucharest. This is the largest earthquake ever recorded in Romania, known by contemporary documents as the “great earthquake of Good Friday”. Felt on an area of 2 million km². Despite its intensity, only four people are killed.

1829 July 1 AD. With an epicenter in Ier Valley, Szatmár County, it has done significant damage in Carei and Satu Mare.

1829 November 26 AD. Vrancea County 7.3 magnitude earthquake. The earthquake occurs on Thursday morning, at 4 o’clock, causing great panic among the population. In Bucharest, 150 stone houses are destroyed or severely damaged. Felt over a very large area from the Tisza to Bug and from the Mureș to the Danube.

1838 January 23 AD. Vrancea County 7.5 magnitude earthquake. 73 deaths were recorded across the country, of which eight were only in Bucharest. In Wallachia, 217 churches collapsed or were severely damaged. A massive landslide barred the Bicaz River, forming the Red Lake.

1868 November 13 AD. Vrancea County 6.4 magnitude earthquake.

1879 October 10 AD. Moldova Nouă, Caraș-Severin County 5.3 magnitude earthquake. The earthquake was followed by three aftershocks with a magnitude over 4.1.

1880 October 3 AD. Mihai Viteazu, Cluj County 5.3 magnitude earthquake.

1894 August 31 AD. Vrancea County 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Occurred at 2:20 p.m. Underground noises were reported in Panciu, Adjud, and Focșani.

1901 March 31 AD.  Shabla, Dobrich Province, Bulgaria 7.2 magnitude earthquake. A 4 m high tsunami devastates localities on the shore of the Black Sea. Large landslides were reported in Dobrich Province. Light damage to buildings in Bucharest.

1904 February 6 AD. Vrancea County 6.6 magnitude earthquake.

1908 October 6 AD. Vrancea County 7.1 magnitude earthquake. The earthquake had three explosive moments at an interval of three minutes. The last phase generated “frightening jolts” and “formidable underground rumble”. It damaged old houses in Bucharest, eastern Wallachia, and southern Moldavia.

1912 May 25 AD. Vrancea County 6.7 magnitude earthquake.

1934 March 29 AD. Vrancea County 6.6 magnitude earthquake.

1940 November 10 AD. Vrancea County 7.7 magnitude earthquake. This was the strongest earthquake recorded in the 20th century in Romania. Its effects were devastating in central and southern Moldavia, but also in Wallachia. The death toll was estimated at 1,000, with an additional figure of 4,000 wounded, mostly in Moldavia. The earthquake was felt in Bucharest, where there were about 300 deaths, mostly from the collapse of Carlton Bloc.

1945 September 7 AD. Vrancea County 6.8 magnitude earthquake.

1945 December 9 AD. Vrancea County 6.5 magnitude earthquake.

1977 March 4 AD. Vrancea County 7.4 magnitude earthquake. 1,578 dead and 11,221 injured in Romania. 120 dead and 165 injured in Bulgaria. Two dead in Moldova. Felt from Rome to Moscow and from Turkey to Finland. A World Bank report indicates damage worthing US$2.048 billion.

1986 August 30 AD. Vrancea County 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Officially, two dead and 558 were injured. In Chișinău, four apartment buildings collapsed, resulting in at least 100 casualties. In Bucharest, 50 workers were killed in the basement of a building, crushed by piles of rubble. The information was never confirmed. Over 50,000 houses were damaged.

1990 May 30 AD. Vrancea County 6.9 magnitude earthquake. 14 dead and 362 injured. Severe damage was reported in large areas in Romania, Moldova, and Bulgaria. Munich Re indicates economic losses of US$30 million.

1990 May 31 AD. Vrancea County 6.4 magnitude earthquake. This was the strongest aftershock of the 30 May mainshock.

1991 July 12 AD. Banloc, Timiș County 5.7 magnitude earthquake. 5,000 rural buildings and a monumental church of German architecture are damaged. 2 dead, 30 injured, hundreds to thousands displaced due to severe damage to buildings.

1991 December 2 AD. Voiteg, Timiș County 5.6 magnitude earthquake. Some injured, serious damage in Voiteg (5,000 houses), 4,500 displaced.

2004 October 27 AD. Năruja, Vrancea County 6.0 magnitude earthquake. Old buildings were slightly damaged. Blackouts were reported in the epicentral areas.

2014 November 22 AD. Panciu, Vrancea County 5.7 magnitude earthquake. Cracks in walls and roads were reported in Galați and Tulcea. Telephone network and power supply were disrupted in the epicentral area. One man was injured in Tulcea. Eight people were injured in Galați and five hypertensive people in Brăila needed medical care because of panic attacks.

2016 September 24 AD. Vrancea County 5.3 magnitude earthquake. In Iași, a young man jumped out a window, suffering a fracture, and an old woman hurt herself in her house, while 12 people suffered panic attacks.

2018 October 28 AD. Vrancea County 5.8 magnitude earthquake. In Bucharest, an old house was slightly damaged. The Bucharest–Ilfov Ambulance Service registered 25 calls for panic attacks. The power supply was briefly disrupted in Întorsura Buzăului, close to the epicenter.

2020 January 31 AD. Vrancea County 5.2 magnitude earthquake. It happened at 03:26.

All seismic events are shown in detail in the ROMPLUS catalog of the National Institute for Earth Physics.