Bucharest Has About 1,000 Shelters For People In Case Of Earthquake - Mayor

Oprescu said that about 50 high seismic risk buildings are currently being rehabilitated, and stressed the capital has 301 high earthquake risk buildings.

The mayor told MEDIAFAX Friday that, in 2011, local authorities will provide people with individual first-aid kits.

Gheorghe Marmureanu, head of the Romanian Institute for Earth Physics, said Friday Romania might be shaken in the upcoming period by small earthquakes of magnitudes below seven degrees, which are not at all dangerous. He added there will be no catastrophic earthquake in Romania at least until 2030.

Marmureanu said only small earthquakes of magnitudes higher than six degrees on the Richter scale have occurred in Romania over the past 30 years, and stressed a "catastrophic earthquake" in Vrancea, eastern Romania, means one measuring over seven degrees.

According to Marmureanu, Romania annually faces a large number of small earthquakes of magnitudes below four degrees on Richter scale, which trigger no catastrophic earthquakes. Marmureanu underscored the institute has state-of-the-art equipment that can detect even an earthquake of 0.02 degrees.

The Vrancea area is known for frequent seismic movements and historical analyses show three earthquakes of magnitudes higher than 7.2 occur throughout a century. The most recent high magnitude quakes in Vrancea occurred in 1940, 1977, 1986 and 1990.

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