Last night’s quake measured 5.4 of 10 on the Richter scale and occurred at a depth of 97 km. On Moldova’s territory, the earthquake was felt with an intensity of 4, while in some parts of the county of 5 of 12 on the MSK 64 scale.

Ion Ilies, head of the Experimental Seismology Center of the Chisinau-based Institute of Geology and Seismology, has told IPN that the magnitude represents the size of the quake in the epicenter, while seismic intensity is its strength on the surface, in different areas. The seismic intensity scale is a descriptive one, which shows how the quake manifested itself in different regions. “There is an index here – what the people felt and how the buildings reacted,” stated the seismologist.

According to Ion Ilies, the closer we are to the source of the quake, the more powerful is the quake. The earthquakes that occur at a great depth and those that occur at a shallow depth can be dangerous. Those that are closer to the surface have a destructive effect in a limited epicentral area, while in the case of those that occur deep the seismic area is larger. This is the so-called cone law.

“The recent quake occurred at a depth of 97 km and was felt on a very wide area, including in Ukraine, Greece, Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova,” stated Ion Ilies.

Vrancea County is a seismic zone with quakes that happen a depth of up to 200 km. For Moldova, the earthquakes that occur at a depth of 60 km and up can be dangerous.

Last night’s earthquake was followed by an aftershock that measured 2.7 degrees on the Richter scale at 5am.