2 hours, 8 minutes ago World - Reuters By Dina Kyriakidou
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - A strong earthquake shook the Romanian capital Bucharest on Wednesday night, rattling buildings and sending objects flying off shelves, Reuters witnesses said. Police and health officials said it was too soon to say if there had been any casualties. "It was very scary. My mother lives on the 7th floor and it was awful. She called me on the phone crying," one resident in the capital, Sanda Voicu, 52, said. The U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites) said a preliminary estimate put the quake's magnitude at six. It had no immediate reports of damage but a spokesman said a tremor of that magnitude was capable of causing a lot of damage, especially if it was near an urban area. An official at Romania's main seismic center in Vrancea, about 155 miles north of Bucharest, said: "It was strong, we estimate around six (magnitude)." The official said there was no official measurement yet because the quake was still rumbling. The U.S. experts said the quake was centerd about 85 miles north-northeast of Bucharest. Television stations interrupted their regular programs to say a "very strong" quake had struck Romania and that it was felt especially strongly in Bucharest. In 1977, during communist rule, a quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale killed more than 1,000 people in the Vrancea area. Bulgarian civil defense officials said the tremors had been felt on their side of the border, but it was too early to tell if there was any significant damage in the country. Copyright C 2004 Reuters Limited http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041027/wl_nm/romania_quake _dc_2 More info: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/usqcck.htm ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/RR.olB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> EuroAtlantic Club: http://www.europe.org.ro/euroatlantic_club/ *** Birou de traduceri autorizate. Oana Gheorghiu - tel/fax: 252.8681 / [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romania_eu_list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
