In the current issue of Bucharest In Your Pocket we publish a feature on Bucharest’s earthquake of 1977, which took place 33 years ago today.
Below is a short film (in Romanian) about the quake: the first 30 seconds or so is a recording of the earthquake made by Radio Romania, which was recording a concert when the quake struck. It is genuinely terrifying.
We also, a while ago, wondered aloud if Bucharest would be better prepared for the next major quake, if and when it strikes.
Despite the protestations of some, we remain unconvinced.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Bucharest will be much better off when it strikes!!! The city needs to be rebuilt from scratch. Let’s just start anew and redo everything the right way.
Good article on why Chile was so different to Haiti: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703411304575093572032665414.html
“…having codes is one thing, enforcing them is another. The quality and consistency of enforcement is typically correlated to the wealth of nations. The poorer the country, the likelier people are to scrimp on rebar, or use poor quality concrete, or lie about compliance.”
…hardly a revolutionary discovery.
If you have money you buy insurance – if not you pray you’ll be lucky. Romania is the religious type.
well, of course Bucharest is not prepared for the next major quake, but everybody is prepared for Bucharest to be unprepared for it – and is much, much cheaper this way.