Light Earthquake Shakes Bulgaria's Pernik

An earthquake with a magnitude of 2.8 on the Richter Scale has been registered near the Western Bulgarian city of Pernik, the Geophysics Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences announced.

The same magnitude of the light earthquake near Pernik has been confirmed by the European Seismology Center, the BGNES news agency reported.

The earthquake was felt at 12:34 pm on Tuesday; its epicenter was 3 km southwest of Pernik, at a depth of 2 km, according to the European Seismology Center.

According to the BAS Geophysics Institute, the depth was 12.7 km.

Some of the residents of Pernik went out in the streets, scared by a possible repeat of the May 22, 2012, earthquake which had a magnitude of 5.8-6.0 on the Richter Scale and caused extensive damage in the city as well as the Bulgarian capital Sofia.