Small earthquakes expected, says Institute for Earth Physics; Bucharest has 1,000 shelters

Romania’s capital Bucharest has almost 1,000 fully-equipped shelters for people, in case major earthquakes occur, mayor Sorin Oprescu said Saturday. His declaration was triggered by a series of small earthquakes in the Vrancea region of Romania, which led to more media reports than usual on the subject. Gheorghe Marmureanu, head of the Romanian Institute for Earth Physics, said Friday Romania might be shaken in the upcoming period by small earthquakes of magnitudes below seven degrees, which are not at all dangerous. He added there will be no catastrophic earthquake in Romania at least until 2030. Mayor Oprescu said that about 50 high seismic risk buildings are currently being rehabilitated, and stressed the capital has 301 high earthquake risk buildings. In 2011, local authorities will provide people with individual first-aid kits. According to the Institute for Earth Physics, Romania annually faces a large number of small earthquakes of magnitudes below four degrees on Richter scale, which trigger no catastrophic earthquakes. Marmureanu underscored the institute has state-of-the-art equipment that can detect even an earthquake of 0.02 degrees. The Vrancea area is known for frequent seismic movements and historical analyses show three earthquakes of magnitudes higher than 7.2 occur throughout a century. The most recent high magnitude quakes in Vrancea occurred in 1940, 1977, 1986 and 1990. Mediafax