Bulgaria earthquakes

M7.1 earthquake 9 km S of Stara Zagora, Bulgaria

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck 9 km S of Stara Zagora, Bulgaria on Sat, Apr 14, 1928, 11:00 AM GMT+2 (09:00 UTC), 10 km (6 mi) below the surface.

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Map

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The earthquake

Magnitude: 7.1 (Mw, moment), major
Magnitude from: ISC-GEM global catalog
Local time: Sat, Apr 14, 1928, 11:00 AM GMT+2
UTC: 1928-04-14 09:00:00 UTC
Depth: 10.0 km (6.2 mi), shallow
Epicenter: 42.351° N, 25.641° E
Region: Bulgaria
Strongest shaking: VIII, severe shaking
Tsunami flag: No
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Deaths and damage

From NOAA NCEI’s Significant Earthquake Database (record 3358), matched to this event by time and place.

Deaths: 127
Injuries: 1,735
Damage: Extreme (about $25 million or more)
Houses destroyed: 74,750

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA’s full record of this earthquake

From Wikipedia

The 1928 Chirpan–Plovdiv earthquakes struck central Bulgaria, south of Sredna Gora on April 14 and 18, respectively. The two largest earthquakes both had moment magnitudes of 7.1 (Mw). Major damage was reported, with over 70,000 buildings collapsing. An estimated 127 people died in both earthquakes and many thousands were affected in its aftermath. The two earthquakes were also felt in Greece, where they caused significant damage. The cost of damage totaled 5 billion leva.

Text from Wikipedia, “1928 Chirpan–Plovdiv earthquakes”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted as written; the full article has the rest.

The article is about the earthquake NOAA’s record describes, matched to this one by date, place and magnitude.

Wikidata records: 107 deaths and 1,735 injured. These are counts entered by Wikidata’s editors; they may differ from the official count, and this page never adds them to another figure. Q12299195, CC0.

Shaking

The USGS ShakeMap: shaking estimated from seismic stations and the quake’s size, on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale.

Strongest estimated: VIII, severe shaking
Peak ground acceleration: 37.9% of gravity
Peak ground velocity: 3.8 cm/s
Map: Automatic

USGS ShakeMap: estimated shaking intensity around the epicenter — Estimated shaking intensity. Map: USGS ShakeMap.

Did you feel it?

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.

How well it is located

Reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude uncertainty: ±0.40
Depth from: From location

Nearest places

Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.

Nearby

Within 100 km, magnitude 4.1 and up: 7 in the 60 days after this one and 0 in the 30 days before it.

After

Earthquakes today Bulgaria earthquakes Live radar here

Sources

From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event iscgem908596. Read Sat, Oct 3, 2026, 1:53 AM UTC.