The quick answer is of course no.
This morning’s major quake in Haiti has had not just us at Bucharest Life scrambling around asking a few questions about what would happen if a big earthquake hit Bucharest.
It has happened before of course.
The last major earthquake was in 1977, though a smaller (and still deadly) quake occurred 20 years ago this month, in January 1990.
Since then, there have been plenty of tremors and shocks, enough to cause general panic (one in 2003 had many residents in our then block spending the night on the street as they thought it would be followed by a major quake) but none causing any more than superficial damage.
Those buildings in Bucharest which are considered to be at risk of falling in a relatively big earthquake carry a red warning disc:
Basically, you do not want to be in one of these buildings if a big one hits.
It is said that blocks built after the earthquake of 1977 are ‘earthquake proof’ as they were subject to far stricter construction standards than those built before. We are not entirely convinced by this argument, given that many blocks built during the 1980s are already crumbling.
So not without reason we think that if a big one does hit, then it will do serious damage. Phone lines will go down, the internet will not work, mobile networks will fail. We therefore hope that the authorities have all sorts of emergency plans in place for just such contingencies, though again, we wouldn’t hold our breath.
Are schools prepared? Do kids get told in class what they might need to do? We know for a fact that our son has had no earthquake drill in his time so far at school (he has been attending since September last year). We are not looking to panic our kids unnecessarily, but if you live in an earthquake zone then you should be prepared, no?
From what we were told (by a decent source) this morning, there is to all intents and purposes no real plan in place in Bucharest for dealing with a major earthquake. They will simply deal with it when (and if) it happens.
Let’s hope it never does.
If, in the meantime, you can counter-argument by supplying us with details of the Bucharest City Council’s earthquake emergency plan (or at least telling us that they have one), please do so. We would love to be proven wrong on this one.
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I have quite grudge on the Bucharest property market and its overinflated prices. The participants in this market, especially those peddling old buildings, are just irresponsible morons. The same can be said of those prepared to give away large sums of money to buy dingy apartments that would probably bury them alive at the forthcoming big earthquake. I wonder how the market and the macho property investors would feel and behave after such an event. The historic buildings will be most affected at the next Big One, thus the already under appreciated architectural heritage of Bucharest will vanish on an even larger scale. I expounded, for your curiosity, in a blog article some months ago some considerations in that regard:
http://historo.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/earthquakes-and-period-properties-in-bucharest/
Thankfully, I switched from a dreadful Communist Bloc on Sos. Panduri to a beautiful 3rd floor walk-up ‘Little Paris’ style pre-Communist apartment here across from Cismigiu last July. In the event of an earthquake I should be able to get out. . . The worry I have is that some of the remaining beautiful architecture here in central Bucharest will be leveled with another earthquake. Corrupt property developers are already leveling a lot of it. An earthquake could make Bucharest really, really ugly.
An earthquake could make Bucharest really, really ugly.
@Davin: Like it isn’t already…
Davin, i have visited Bucharest twice, you must wander round with your eyes closed, there are lots of beautiful places there, try again.
@Sato: I think you will find there is more than one school in Bucharest. Having said that, that school is the one where all the rich kids go to is it not? So that’s OK then. Also, you can no longer buy 100 watt bulbs in the EU, so your bunica is partly right…
@Parmalat: Agree. Am convinced that the current trend towards little ones reduces the possibility of a bigger one. But seeing what happens in under-developed countries when these quakes do hit is a good wake-up call.
The counter-argument came a few months ago from the Institute of Geophysics or so (the ones who deal with monitoring earthquake activity in Romania), after a small earthquake of course, and they told us back then that it’s very good when we have such small earthquakes because pressure is released and the possibility of a big earthquake becomes smaller. They also said that according to calculations following recent earthquake activity in Romania, we should not expect anything significant until at least 2020.
I hope they’re right, earthquakes really make me fear; not necessarily because of what would happen to me, but mostly because of what can happen to family and friends. In case of a big earthquake I think there would be at least 12 hours of terrible panic in Bucharest, with chaos and all communication systems down.
Or this other episode, specifically targeted at SCHOOLS?
http://www.h24.ro/index.php/2009/02/25/simulare-de-cutremur-la-ilcaragiale/
A bit more research, perhaps — and less reliance on hearsay? You don’t want to end up like my grandmother who had practically not left the house in years, but was utterly convinced that ‘nu se gasesc becuri’!
I worked as a World Bank consultant for the Romanian Government’s Emergency Response Unit (now also responsible for the fire brigade) and I wrote a plan that all public sector units must use when the quake comes. It was a good plan, done with a great American expert, and it was passed into legislation, but we said repeatedly “if the plan is not practised by every institution it is useless”, and needless to say the plan was shelved. Unfortunately this is what happens to every plan that the Romanian govt prepare, including their EU accession plans, and explains the state of the country. Basically, every family and every institution needs to develop their own simple plan and to practise it every year. Best place to learn is the American Red Cross. You can see the film we made on the issue, partly based on Bucharest’s big 1997 quake here — http://bit.ly/5RoWll — and if you feel like reading an article about disaster preparedness in Romania (and the lack of) you should read my article on the issue, here: http://www.productive.ro/blog/its-a-disaster.html
How about this then?
http://robreakingnews.blogspot.com/2009/09/simulare-de-cutremur-in-bucuresti.html
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