A total of seven seismic locations in Bulgaria have the potential to cause earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.5 or greater, according to scientists.

The earthquake that Bulgaria experienced at 2:58 am on Tuesday had a magnitude of 5.8-5.9 on the Richter Scale, the estimates of the Geophysics Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences have shown.

Four of the seismic spots in Bulgaria actually have the capacity of causing earthquakes with a magnitude of 7 and beyond:

The Krupnik-Kresna Gorge in Southwestern Bulgaria where an earthquake of 7-8 magnitude was estimated to have taken place in 1904; it is one of the spots with the highest seismic activity in Europe, and threatens the southwestern cities and towns Blagoevgrad, Sandanski, Petrich, and Kresna.

Shabla in Northeastern Bulgaria, on the Black Sea – the last major earthquake there took place in 1901, and had an estimated magnitude of 7-7.5 on the Richter Scale; it has the potential to affect Varna, Dobrich, Silistra, Balchik, Kavarna, Shabla.

Gorna Oryahovitsa in central Northern Bulgaria – the last major earthquake there was in 1913; it had an estimated magnitude of 7 on the Richter Scale, with the city of Veliko Tarnovo and the town of Gorna Oryahovitsa being under threat.

The region between Plovdiv and Chirpan – the last major earthquake there was in 1928; its magnitude was estimated at 7 on the Richter Scale; it has the potential to affect the Plovdiv and Stara Zagora regions.

The other seismic spots in Bulgaria have the potential to cause earthquakes of between 6.5 and 7 on the Richter Scale – namely the Sofia region, the region around the town of Provadia in the Northeast, and the region around the southeastern city of Yambol.