The earthquakes that occurred in the afternoon of August 1 and the morning of August 2 are independent from each other, said Mihai Diaconescu, seismologist of the National Institute for Earth Physics. The specialist told Mediafax that the two quakes do not forestall a more intense activity in Romania’s Vrancea region, IPN reports.

“The two quakes are not connected. The one that measured 4.6 occurred at a depth of 90 km, while that of 4.9 at a depth of 132 km. They didn’t condition each other and the second is not an aftershock of the first as an aftershock is always smaller than the main quake. In the history of Vrancea region, there were periods when the seismic activity was more intense and also when there were few quakes of over 4 or even over 3,” stated Mihai Diaconescu.

According to the seismologist, there won’t be earthquakes with a magnitude higher than 5 on the Richter scale in the near future and such tremors are hardly felt by persons. “These quakes do not announce the end of earthquakes in Vrancea region and do not forecast a more intense activity. These tremors are independent from each other and do not predict a quake of more than 5 degrees. The intensity refers to the effects on humans and buildings, while the magnitude to the energy discharged at the central point. These quakes are weak and are felt only by people who live at upper floors, higher than the sixth floor,” said Mihai Diaconescu.

The most recent quake measured 4.9 degrees on the Richter scale and was felt in Moldova. This happened at 5:32pm on August 2 and was preceded by another one of 4.6 degrees at 1:27 pm on August 1.