Professor: 7-Magnitude Earthquake in Sofia Could Leave 4500 Dead

The building stock in Bulgaria is extremely vulnerable to earthquakes, according to Professor Emil Botev, head of the Seismology unit of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS)

Speaking at an international conference on the catastrophic risks in the country, he claimed that an earthquake around Sofia with a magnitude of 7 or 7+ on the Richter scale would affect over 2 million people.

Botev, as cited by Darik radio, pointed out that such an earthquake would claim the lives of around 4500, leave over 2000 injured, destroy over 40 000 buildings in Sofia only, and cause damage worth around EUR 20 B.

"On a global scale, earthquakes are the natural disaster which brings the biggest natural risk, with 35% of the damage and victims of natural disasters being victims of earthquakes," he declared.

Botev also noted that the damage caused by the earthquakes had increased over the past few years.