A 4.9 magnitude earthquake occurred in Slovakia on Monday evening, the Slovak Interior Ministry said on Facebook. (source: EMSC)
An earthquake registered a magnitude of 5 on the Richter scale struck eastern Slovakia on Monday evening.
According to initial reports, it occurred at a depth of 10 km shortly before 20:30.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre wrote on its website that the epicentre of the quake was 18 km northwest of Humenné, a Slovak town of 31,000.
Seismologist Kristián Csicsay opined that the earthquake was a weaker one.
"If the magnitude was around 5, then the last time we had an earthquake with an epicentre in the area with such a magnitude was about 80 years ago,” he told the TASR news agency on October 9. “By our standards, that's strong.”
Eastern Slovakia belongs to one of the most seismically active areas in the country, in addition to the Komárno area and the Small Carpathians in the west.
According to the first manually processed data, the magnitude was between 4.8 and 5.1, said the Institute of Earth Sciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV), as quoted by the news website Aktuality.sk on Monday night.
The exact magnitude, epicentre, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours, noted Volcano Discovery.
Initially, people have not reported any major damage. Aktuality.sk shared a video that captures the force of the earthquake.
The Interior Ministry wrote on Facebook that nuclear power plants are operating in the usual mode. The Domaša water dam in eastern Slovakia is not damaged.
The map of the latest local earthquakes is available here.
Tremors felt in neighbouring countries
According to The Kyiv Independent, tremors were also felt in western Ukraine. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy said that local residents reported minor tremors at around 21:35.
Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki posted on the platform X that the earthquake was also felt in Poland.
The Hungarian media also reported on the earthquake on Monday evening. In Hungary, the earthquake was felt in several Hungarian towns, including Miskolc, Vásárosnamény, Hajdúnánás and Sárospatak.
According to Hungary's Kövesligethy Radó Seismological Observatory, further aftershocks are expected in the region.
Strongest earthquake in 90 years
In 2022, SAV recorded 76 earthquakes with the epicentre in Slovakia.
In 2020, there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.4 near Michalovce, eastern Slovakia. There was an earthquake near Jasenov in the Humenné district, 20 years ago. It had a magnitude of 4.3, Csicsay told the Korzár website.
The last strong earthquake in Slovakia was recorded in 1906 in Dobrá Voda, western Slovakia. Its magnitude was measured at 5.7-5.9.
"Yesterday's earthquake had a magnitude of 4.9," the seismologist said on October 10. "This was the strongest earthquake with an epicentre in Slovakia in the last 90 years."
It occurred at a depth of 17.8 km, according to the latest information. The epicentre was to be located in the village of Ďapalovce, Vranov nad Topľou district.
The earthquake caused damage in several villages in eastern Slovakia, including Baškovce in the Humenné district.
"Chimneys are damaged on almost every other house in the village of 100 houses. Roofs were damaged as a result. There was a case where a chimney fell on a car," Baškovce mayor Pavol Tamáš told the TASR news agency on Tuesday.
Emergency situations due to damaged houses were declared in the Vranov nad Topľou district and in the village of Kolbovce, Stropkov district, as well as in Prešov Region.
In Ďapalovce, 44 people were evacuated and 15 family houses were closed.
The last time there was a magnitude 5 earthquake with an epicentre in Slovakia was in 1930.
According to Martin Gális from the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics of the Comenius University in Bratislava, a similar earthquake to the one from Monday occurred in 1914 near Giraltovce with an estimated magnitude of 4.8.
The strongest earthquake on the territory of today's Slovakia occurred in Komárno, southern Slovakia, 260 years ago, on June 28, 1763, with a magnitude of 6.3. As a result of the earthquake, 91 percent of the houses in the town were more or less damaged. According to the latest studies, up to 300 died in the earthquake.
Disinformation scene blames Americans
The Slovak police already had to debunk the disinformation that the October 9 earthquake in the east of Slovakia was caused by the Americans.
"Spreaders of disinformation have once again pointed the finger at HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program), which they also blamed for the earthquake in Turkey," police said.
The project is often a subject of conspiracy theories that claim the USA is purposefully causing natural disasters around the world.
