Earthquake in Romania. The Gorj seismic zone has been reactivated

Emotions for the residents of Oltenia, who had an extremely turbulent year from a seismic point of view.

Earthquake registered 17 km from Târgu Jiu

On Sunday, April 28, 2024, a new earthquake was recorded in the Gorj seismic zone. The earthquake was small, with a magnitude of 2.5 ml and a depth of 15.0 km.

The official time of the earthquake, communicated by the National Research and Development Institute for Earth Physics (INCDFP), is 20:02:26, ​​local time of Romania.

The tectonic movement occurred 17 km W of Târgu Jiu, 60 km NE of Drobeta-Turnu Severin, 74 km S of Hunedoara, 88 km S of Deva and 95 km E of Reșita.

Gorj County was the area with the most intense seismic activity in 2023. Of the 4,900 earthquakes recorded last year, over 4,000 lei took place in Gorj.

Gorj seismic zone: almost 1,000 earthquakes in ten days

According to Antena 3, more than 3,200 homes were affected and needed repairs. In February 2024, 960 earthquakes occurred in just ten days, the largest having a magnitude of 5.7 degrees. In Arcani commune alone, over 250 houses were destroyed or partially damaged.

The most inspired were the people of Olten who had insurance against disasters. Over 6.5 million euros were settled by PAID (the Disaster Insurance Pool), only in Gorj and Arad counties.

“On the occasion of the Gorj earthquake, about 3,200 homes were damaged and were repaired with the insurance money. This in the conditions where in Gorj county only 9% of homes were insured at the time of the earthquake.

You realize, in reality, how many houses have been damaged for which there is no compensation at all.” said Cosmin Tudor, deputy general director of PAID, according to the cited source.

At the time, many locals took refuge with relatives and friends in other counties, saying they simply feared for their lives. In recent months, only low-intensity earthquakes have been recorded in the Gorj seismic zone, and their frequency has decreased quite a bit.