Sofia

Earthquakes near Sofia through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 4 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Sofia, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. 3 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 7.1, twice: on April 14, 1928 (9 km S of Stara Zagora, Bulgaria) and on April 18, 1928 (3 km W of Brezovo, Bulgaria).

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The last 30 days · as of

USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Sofia in the last 30 days.

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What the record holds

The one on April 14, 1928 was the deadliest: NOAA records 127 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 10 here, back to 1555. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.6 on May 22, 2012 (Pernik). NOAA’s record here begins in 1555 with an earthquake (Macedonia: Razlovci).

The events

Good to know

  • An event counts for Sofia when it began within 100 km of its centre, or 200 km for an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. Damage can reach further.
  • USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
  • NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
  • Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
  • A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
  • Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history

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