3.4 Earthquake Shakes Romania's Vrancea near Bulgaria

An earthquake with a 3.4 magnitude on the Richter scale has been registered in Romania's region of Vrancea, some 380 km northeast of Bulgaria's capital Sofia.

According to Romanian media, the quake was registered at 6:24 am Wednesday by the country's National Geophysics Institute. The epicenter is at a depth of over 80 kilometers.

There are no reports of casualties, injuries or material damage unlike the 7.6-magnitude Vrancea earthquake from March 1977 that killed 1 600 persons in Romania and Bulgaria, and damaged 8 500 buildings. The Bulgarian casualties in the town of Svishtov were 120.

There have been a number of reports recently about tremors in Vrancea, fueling fears the region is becoming active again.