Bulgaria

Earthquakes in Bulgaria, 1927–2026

From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 2 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Bulgaria. 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 in the area the map frames 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. 7 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 2 of the events here, 130 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.6 on May 22, 2012 (Pernik). NOAA lists one tsunami that began in or off Bulgaria. The highest water NOAA records here was 1.2 m, on May 7, 2007.

The events

  • May 22, 2012Earthquake · M 5.6PernikNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • May 7, 2007Tsunami · 1.2 m hereBlack SeaNOAA NCEI
  • December 7, 1986Earthquake · M 5.6Veliko Turnovo-Turgovishte · 3 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
  • November 3, 1977Earthquake · M 5.1VelingradNOAA NCEI
  • 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

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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