Bulgaria

Earthquakes in Bulgaria through history

From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 7 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Bulgaria. 3 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest on either list was a magnitude 7.2 on March 31, 1901 (Balchik).

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The last 30 days · as of

USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.

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What the record holds

The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.1 on April 14, 1928 (9 km S of Stara Zagora, Bulgaria), for which NOAA records 127 deaths. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 22 here, back to 51 BCE. NOAA records deaths in 5 of the events here, 139 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.6 on May 22, 2012 (Pernik). NOAA’s record here begins in 51 BCE with an earthquake (Bisone [kavarna], Dionisopolis [balchik]). It grows thinner going back: 7 of the 22 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here are from 1927 on. NOAA lists 4 tsunamis that began in or off Bulgaria. The highest water NOAA records here was 3 m, on March 31, 1901.

The events

  • May 22, 2012Earthquake · M 5.6PernikNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • April 18, 1928Earthquake · M 7.13 km W of Brezovo, BulgariaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
  • April 14, 1928Earthquake · M 7.19 km S of Stara Zagora, Bulgaria · 127 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • April 4, 1904Earthquake · M 7.07 km SE of Stara Kresna, BulgariaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
  • April 4, 1904Earthquake · M 6.86 km W of Stara Kresna, BulgariaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
  • March 31, 1901Earthquake · M 7.2Balchik · 4 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • March 31, 1901Earthquake · M 6.4Balchik, Kavarna, Blatnitsa, Limanu · 4 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • March 31, 1901Tsunami · 3 m hereBlack SeaNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • 51 BCEEarthquakeBisone [kavarna], Dionisopolis [balchik]NOAA NCEI

Good to know

  • An event counts for Bulgaria when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Bulgaria is the nearest country.
  • 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.
  • The map frames the box around Bulgaria, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
  • 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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