Earthquake rattles Bucharest

Bucharest: An earthquake hit eastern Romania early today, shaking the capital Bucharest, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

Romania's National Institute for Earth Physics put the quake at magnitude 5.2, while the US Geological Survey gave it a magnitude of 5.6.

"The epicentre was in the seismic region of Vrancea at a depth of 100 kilometres (60 miles)," the institute's spokesman Mircea Radulian told AFP after the quake hit around 1:20 AM (local time).

The Vrancea region, northeast of Bucharest, has experienced some of Romania's most deadly tremors, notably in 1977 when a 7.2-magnitude quake killed more than 1,500 people.

The area sits on the junction of three tectonic plates and is one of the most seismically active areas in Europe.