Dozens of Bodies Inspecting Bulgaria's Quake-Hit City

The handles of the city clock in Bulgaria's Pernik are frozen at the time when the first and strongest quake shook the city Tuesday morning. Photo by BGNES

A total of 55 emergency committees have started assessing the condition of buildings in the Southwestern Bulgarian town of Pernik that was jolted by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday.

Each committee will include a construction company representative, an expert from the local municipal department on construction and a member of an engineers' chamber, Pernik Deputy Mayor Mihail Mihaylov has told the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.

The committees will focus their priority on public buildings such as schools and kindergartens. Wherever the committee reckons that repair works are possible, the construction company would immediately start working, Mihaylov has explained.

The Deputy Mayor believes that the city's newer buildings can withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of 8 on the Richter scale.

On Monday, Pernik Mayor Rositsa Yanakieva will be informed about the commissions'initial conclusions.

On Wednesday, Yanakieva stated that Pernik may have suffered material damages worth hundreds of millions of BGN.