A total of 86 earthquakes have been detected over the last five days in southern Bulgaria.

The epicenter of the quakes was 20km southeast of Kardzhali - the territory of the villages of Murgovo, Chereshitsa, Most and Dolna Krepost, seismologists say.

Just a few kilometers away is the ancient Thracian complex of Perperikon, where the recent quakes reportedly caused damages worth EUR 9,000.

On Friday alone, two earthquakes struck early in the afternoon. They measured 3.2 and 3.5 on the Richter scale, and had their epicenter at some 200 km southeast of Sofia.

The first and most powerful earthquake hit the region on February 20 and had a magnitude of 4.2 - 4.5 on the Richter scale, which the Thessaloniki University reports to be 4.9.

That was also Bulgaria's first vertical tremor in years.

Seismologists say that the aftershocks in Kardzhali's region were likely to continue for at least two months.

From all registered quakes only 12 have a magnitude of over 2, while the rest were not felt by the population.