According to the National Institute of Earth Physics (INFP), a new earthquake with a magnitude of 4.4 occurred on Thursday in the Gorzh district at a depth of only 15 kilometers.

The earthquake was registered at 11.11.

The earthquake occurred 104 km northwest of Craiova, 107 km southwest of Sibiu, 139 km west of Pitesti, 165 km southeast of Timisoara, 184 km southeast of Arad, 184 km south of Cluj-Napoca , 201 km west of Brasov, 214 km east. Belgrade, 218 km east of Zemun, 224 km northeast of Nis.

We will remind, on Tuesday, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 occurred in the Gorzh district. According to representatives of the National Institute of Earth Physics, the earthquake was accompanied by more than 300 aftershocks by Thursday afternoon.

In addition, a 5.2-magnitude earthquake followed by 16 aftershocks at a depth of only 13.2 kilometers occurred in the Gorge district on Monday.

The two earthquakes were felt across a large area, including Oltenia, Banat, Hunedoara, northeastern Serbia and northwestern Bulgaria, INFP officials said.

According to the INFP, the “seismic doublet” type system registered these days is the most intense activity in the area since records of the region exist.

The area where these earthquakes occurred is known for weak to moderate seismic activity, with events over a magnitude of 5 being very rare. The last predicted magnitude 5.2 earthquake occurred in 1943 at a depth of 9.9 kilometers, the INFP said.

Other more significant earthquakes in the area were recorded in:

• 1912 – 4.5 degrees, depth 10 km
• 1916 – 3.9 degrees, depth 10 km
• 1962 – 4 degrees, depth 16 km
• 1963 – 4.5 degrees, depth 10 km.

On Thursday, the INFP announced that it had sent specialists to the area to install three seismic stations and five GPS stations for analysis to study the process of earthquakes and their consequences:

• “New seismic stations can record earthquakes of small magnitude and, based on the records, assess damage in the territory, and GPS stations will record deformations of the earth’s crust. The equipment was installed in the settlements of Lelesti, Runku, Pestishani and Baltishoara.
• These sejm stations complement the 5 already existing stations in the area: Hura-Zlata, Lotru, Petroshani, Tirgu-Zhiu, Herculane and Strehaia.”

“Land should not be included in the formula”

After the Gorge earthquakes, representatives of INFPs made several public statements in which they emphasized that it is impossible to predict earthquakes.

• “Land cannot be included in the formula. We cannot make predictions.
• In the whole world, there is no method for predicting earthquakes, there is no formula.
• These systems of forces that arise in the earth’s crust are complex and chaotic in nature, they do not develop in an easily predictable way. It is impossible to say what exactly will happen in the future.
• The Dutchman started the “prediction” with “sooner or later”. This is not a prediction. Such “forecasts” cannot be accepted by the scientific community.
• That’s it, we are at the mercy of nature.
• The devices record movements during the production of earthquakes, they cannot predict them,” experts from the Institute of Earth Physics said.