RSS
Romanian-Bulgarian crossborder earthquake warning system displays magnitude in 4 sec
Romanian-Bulgarian crossborder earthquake warning system determines the magnitude in four seconds, said honorary director of the National Institute for Earth Physics Gheorghe Marmureanu on Friday for Radio Romania Actualitati news radio station.
'The system has a highly developed software, almost the only one in the world that determines the magnitude so quickly, in four seconds. The moment an earthquake takes place, night or day, the signal through STS is sent to all emergency inspectorates in Romania and Bulgaria. So, in 4.05 seconds, they are informed and then the connections with the critical structures in the county are made. After the quake is announced, a map is created with the intensities on that area and the moment a black area appears on the map, that means we deal with severe issues and the Inspectorate authorities must go there and nowhere else,' said Marmureanu.
The system allows warning whether a major quake is imminent, 30 or 40 seconds prior to the seismic wave to reach the place, and then creates post-earthquake maps showing areas or even buildings with the highest risk of damages, routing the rescue efforts.
According to the quoted source, after this project was concluded which was more than 6 million euros, seven counties in Romania and eight districts in Bulgaria will be warned quickly in case of an earthquake with a magnitude over 7 degrees.
The project Danube - Warning System for earthquakes for the crossborder region Romania-Bulgaria (DACEA) is co-financed through the European Fund of Regional Development, Romania's and Bulgaria's governments and five project partners.
On the other hand, Gheorghe Marmureanu added that the seismic activity in Vrancea area of late is absolutely normal and that an earthquake over seven degrees is not to be expected because Vrancea area is not loaded enough.
'We do no worry at the moment. There are historic data and I should tell you that Vrancea is not that unpredictable. There are not such surface quakes like in Italy, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia or Japan. However, an earthquake with the magnitude lower than 7 degrees can occur in Romania anytime, which will not cause damage for population or industry. There is not the case for an earthquake over seven degrees yet. The Vrancea system is not loaded enough to lead to a quake,' said Gheorghe Marmureanu.