1940 Vrancea earthquake

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1940 Vrancea earthquake
Date 10 November 1940 (1940-11-10)
3:39 AM (local time)
Magnitude 7.4 or 7.7 Mw
Depth 133 km
Epicenter Vrancea County, Romania
Countries or regions Romania, Moldova
Total damage 65,000 homes destroyed
Casualties 1,600 dead, 12,100 injured[1]

The 1940 Vrancea earthquake, also known as the 1940 Bucharest earthquake, (Romanian: Cutremurul din 1940) occurred on Sunday, November 10, 1940 in Romania at 03:39 AM local time.

The 1940 earthquake registered a magnitude of 7.4 or 7.7 on the Richter scale. Its epicenter lied in Vrancea zone at a depth of about 133 km. It was the first great earthquake in Romania's recent history.

Damage

Rescue operations for survivors in Carlton Bloc

The earthquake's effects were devastating in central and southern Moldova and Walachia. The number of casualties was estimated at 1,600 dead while 12,100 are believed to have been injured, mostly in Moldova. Because the context in which it occurred, the exact number of victims was not known as this kind of information was censored during the war.

The earthquake was felt in Bucharest, where about 300 people were killed, most of them in the collapse of the Carlton Bloc.[2] The Carlton building, a 14-story reinforced concrete structure, was the tallest building in the city at the time. Many other buildings in Bucharest were also considerably damaged.[3] After the earthquake, the Romanian General Association of Engineers undertook a detailed study of earthquake effects on reinforced concrete buildings. The main conclusion was that the guidelines used for constructing reinforced concrete buildings, which were basically copied from the Germans, did not take into account possible seismic movement, as Germany is not located in an area with a high seismic risk. Following the study, new rules were developed and applied to all postwar buildings.

Focşani, a city 100 miles northeast of Bucharest and the epicentre of the quake, was reported in ruins; Galați, the site of the German submarine base, also suffered severely; and Giurgiu, the principal oil port on the Danube, saw public buildings and factories completely destroyed. In Câmpina, a densely populated oil town, refinery chimneys toppled, houses collapsed, and pipelines burst, dousing the ground with a sticky and inflammable threat. In the heavily guarded Ploieşti, a few field fires broke out, but were later reported extinguished.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "PERICOL IMINENT S-a încărcat Vrancea! Un cutremur violent, de peste 7 grade, poate devasta România oricând", EVZ.ro, 27 October 2012
  2. ↑ Time.com
  3. ↑ Romania Libera - Tragedia de la Blocul Carlton

External links

Very large
(7.0 or greater)
Large
(6.0–6.9)
  • 1545 Vrancea (6.8)
  • 1790 Vrancea (6.8)
  • 1812 Vrancea (6.5)
  • 1945 Vrancea (6.8)
  • 1990 Vrancea (6.9, 6.2, 6.1)
  • 2004 Vrancea (6.0)
Moderate
(less than 6.0)
  • 1974 Timiș (5.6)
  • 1991 Caraș-Severin (5.6)
  • 2004 Tulcea (5.0)
  • 2005 Buzău (5.1)
  • June 2005 Vrancea (5.0)
  • December 2005 Vrancea (5.0)
  • 2009 Vrancea (5.3)
  • 2013 Vrancea (5.3)
1 the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Romania
2 the deadliest earthquake ever recorded in Romania

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