Magnitude 4.8 earthquake in Vrancea felt in Bucharest and across south-eastern Romania
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck Romania's Vrancea seismic zone at 11:51 local time on Monday, at a depth of about 130 km near Nehoiu in Buzău county. It was felt in Bucharest, Brașov, Ploiești and Focșani, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake hit Romania's Vrancea seismic zone on Monday, 19 October, at 11:51:58 local time (08:51 UTC), according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC). The centre put the epicentre at 45.50°N, 26.34°E, at a depth of about 130 km — roughly 10 km north-east of Nehoiu in Buzău county, 54 km north-west of Buzău, 59 km east of Brașov and about 120 km north of Bucharest. Germany's GFZ centre recorded a closely similar event, at magnitude 4.7 and 133 km deep, while EMSC said its readings drew in part on data from Romania's National Institute for Earth Physics (NIEP). The parameters were still being reviewed and could be revised slightly.
The shaking was brief but widely noticed. Within minutes EMSC had collected more than 100 eyewitness reports, from Sfântu Gheorghe, Brașov and Câmpina to Ploiești, Focșani and Tecuci, and from several districts of Bucharest, where people described a short sway lasting a few seconds in office and apartment buildings. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, and no official warning was issued. At this depth and magnitude, a Vrancea earthquake is typically felt over a wide area of south-eastern Romania and Moldova while rarely causing harm at the surface.
Vrancea, at the bend of the Carpathians, is Romania's most dangerous seismic zone, producing intermediate-depth earthquakes far below the surface. Monday's event appears to be the strongest recorded in Romania so far this year, ahead of a magnitude 4.5 earthquake in the same zone on 26 February, though seismologists routinely stress that a single moderate quake says little about what may follow. Anyone who felt it can report what they experienced to INFP or EMSC, which use such reports to map how strongly each place was shaken.