On the 28th December 2016, our second night in Moldova before heading to Kiev for New Year there was an earthquake in the night and we felt it!
The earthquake was a 5.6 on the Richter scale and originated from Romania in the area marked on this map on the east side.
We found this information on BNO News:
My boyfriend was awake reading, so when I awoke to the vibrations he told me it was an earthquake. It was a bizarre thing to awake to and felt as you would expect…just like the Earth was moving!
A could hear a few things fall down and the hotel staff running around, probably to check nothing was damaged.
I think the weirdest thing is the aftershocks, which do make you feel like you’re out at sea. A strange feeling when you’re trying to get back to sleep! I couldn’t get to sleep until the shocks were over as it felt too strange.
Here are some of the comments from other people that felt the same earthquake and said similar things:
Even a small earthquake makes you feel like you have no control. I cannot even imagine what it is like to feel a quake stronger than this. For people in active zones it must be so awful as it is a constant threat that ruins lives and livelihoods.
It will definitely stick in my mind as a slightly frightening but interesting experience, not one I would like to repeat. Natural disasters can be so awful and we were lucky that this was so minor and no damage caused.