List of earthquakes in Bulgaria

This list of earthquakes in Bulgaria is organized by date and includes events that caused injuries/fatalities, historic quakes, as well events that are notable for other reasons.

Key

•      Epicenter outside Bulgaria

Name	Date	Epicentre	Mag.	MMI	Depth (km)	Notes	Deaths	Injuries
1802 Vrancea earthquake	1802101400001802-10-14	Vrancea Mountains, Romania	7.9	VIII	150.0	The cities of Ruse, Silistra, Varna and Vidin were almost completely destroyed.[1]
1818 Sofia earthquake	1818042500001818-04-25	near Sofia	6.0	VII
1838 Vrancea earthquake	1838011100001838-01-11	Vrancea Mountains, Romania	7.5	VII		Felt across much of the country, damage reported in northern Bulgaria.
1858 Sofia earthquake	1858093000001858-09-30	near Sofia	6.6	IX	9.0	70-80% of buildings in Sofia suffered damage.	4
1901 Black Sea earthquake	1901033100001901-03-31	off Cape Kaliakra	7.2	X	14.0	More than 1,200 houses destroyed. Quake generated a 4–5 m high tsunami that devastated coastal communities on both sides of the Bulgarian-Romanian border.	4	50+
1904 Kresna earthquakes	1904040400001904-04-04	near Krupnik	7.2 Ms [2]		11.0	One of the largest shallow 20th century earthquakes on land in the Balkans, preceded by a very powerful 7.1 foreshock. Felt as far away as Budapest, Hungary.	200+
1908 Gorna Oryahovitza earthquake	1908011000001908-01-10	near Gorna Oryahovitza	7.0			First quake locally measured via seismograph, after one was installed in Sofia in 1905.
1909 Gorna Oryahovitza earthquake	1909041400001909-04-14	near Gorna Oryahovitza	7.0
1913 Ruse earthquake	1913061400001913-06-14	southwest of Ruse	6.6[3]		15.0		37
1928 Chirpan earthquakes	1928041400001928-04-14	near Chirpan	7.1 and 7.1[4]	IX	10.0	Followed by a 7.1 aftershock at a depth of 15.0 km on April 18. More than 26,000 buildings were destroyed, another 21,000 were severely damaged.	107	500
1942 Razgrad earthquake	1942031700001942-03-17	near Razgrad	5.1			Large parts of the city were damaged.
1977 Vrancea earthquake	1977030400001977-03-04	Vrancea Mountains, Romania	7.2	VIII	94.0	Most casualties occurred in Svishtov when several apartment buildings collapsed. Widely felt across the entire country, with minor damage reported as far south as Plovdiv.	120	165
1977 Velingrad earthquake	1977110300001977-11-03	near Velingrad	5.2[5]	VI	6.0	Nearly 800 buildings were damaged across several counties.
1986 Strazhitsa earthquake	1986120700001986-12-07	near Strazhitsa	5.6[6]	VII	20.5	80% of buildings in Strazhitsa were deemed 'uninhabitable' after the quake, with 150 being completely destroyed. The town was later rebuilt.	3	80
1990 Vrancea earthquakes	1990053000001990-05-30	Vrancea Mountains, Romania	6.7	V	89.0	Moderate damage in northeastern Bulgaria. Main event was followed by a 6.1 aftershock on May 31.	1
2004 Vrancea earthquake	2004102700002004-10-27	Vrancea Mountains, Romania	6.0	V		Felt across the country, some damage reported in northeastern Bulgaria.
2012 Pernik earthquake	2012052700002012-05-22	near Pernik	5.6[7]	VI	10.0	Caused at least €11,000,000 worth of damage, mostly in Pernik, and to a lesser degree in the capital Sofia.	1
2014 Aegean Sea earthquake	2014052400002014-05-24	Aegean Sea	6.9	V	6.4	Widely felt across southern Bulgaria, minor damage reported in areas close to the Greek border.

Gallery

• 
  Bent rails after the 1928 Chirpan earthquake
• 
  King Boris III of Bulgaria meeting with people from Plovdiv in the aftermath of the 1928 quake
• 
  The Catholic Hospital in Plovdiv after the 1928 quake
• 
  One of the three towers of the Republika Power Plant in Pernik collapsed after the 2012 earthquake
• 
  USGS seismic hazard map showing Bulgaria, as well as the Vrancea Mountains fault in central Romania
• 
  Bulgarian Academy of Sciences seismic hazard map showing maximum acceleration for a repeat period of 475 years

References

1. Popescu, I. G. (May–June 1941). Etude comparative sur quelques tremblements de terre de Roumanie, du type du celui du 10 novembre 1940 (in French). Bucharest: Cartea Romaneasca.
2. Ambraseys, N. (2001), "The Kresna earthquake of 1904 in Bulgaria", Annals of Geophysics Journal, INGV, 44 (1): 102, doi:10.4401/ag-3614
3. "M 6.6 - Bulgaria". United States Geological Survey. March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
4. "M 7.1 - Bulgaria". United States Geological Survey. March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
5. "M 5.2 - Bulgaria". United States Geological Survey. March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
6. "M 5.6 - Bulgaria". United States Geological Survey. March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
7. "M 5.6 - Bulgaria". United States Geological Survey. March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.