More than 400 aftershocks were registered by Montenegrin seismologists after the March 14 earthquake hit the northwest of the country. Srđan Ceković from the Department of Seismology told "Vijesti" that the series of smaller earthquakes will continue in the next two to three weeks.
"As we seismologists usually say - ground settling," he said.
Yesterday at 12.40:XNUMX p.m., the Institute for Hydrometeorology and Seismology registered a moderate earthquake with an epicenter three kilometers northwest of Čarađe, not far from Nikšić.
"The strength of this earthquake in the hypocenter (hot spot) was 4,6 units on the Richter scale, which corresponds to the epicentral intensity of VI degrees on the Mercalli scale (MCS). The epicenter of this earthquake was located at a depth of 15 km", they announced yesterday.
That earthquake, Ceković said, could have caused minor material damage, "but only in the epicentral area."
As he added, the seismological instruments, after that, registered seven more earthquakes of lower intensity and that they ranged from 1,3 to 3,2 on the Richter scale.
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The night before, at 21.07:4,3 p.m., an earthquake with a magnitude of XNUMX on the Richter scale was also registered.
According to Ceković, it is a seismogenic zone, "which has worked before". As he said, the earthquakes in the territory of the municipality of Nikšić, in the town of Čarađe, in Golija, are not an isolated case.
The interlocutor of "Vijesti" from the Institute of Seismology said that in terms of measuring instruments and equipment, "Montenegro, Seismology Department, has all new, newer and older models of seismological instruments".
"Also all software programs, so we keep up with the times," said Ceković.
He also said that they monitor all the data, including both those over time and the history of major earthquakes.
In the earthquake that hit Montenegro on March 14, significant material damage was caused to buildings in villages near the epicenter, as well as landslides on roads.
President of the Krstac Local Community Dragoljub Manojlović, told "Vijesti" at the time that material damage was caused in Golija, where the epicenter of the earthquake was (the village of Čarađe).
"Fortunately, there were no human victims, and there were no victims of what this people lives on, which is cattle, because a lot of barns were damaged by the earthquake. "From Prenka to Kazanac, there is no village in Golija where the earthquake did not damage the buildings," said Manojlović at the time.
About 130 households live permanently in Golija.
The day after that earthquake, Jadranka Mihaljević from the Institute for Hydrometeorology and Seismology, told "Vijesti" that the Institute has been registering a series of weak to strong earthquakes for several months that "occurred in the entire central region of Montenegro".
"...That belt practically stretched from Shkodra in Albania, across Podhum, Lake Skadar, across the Zeta basin and Nikšić. With magnitudes up to about three units on the Richter scale, the citizens could feel some of them, and some went unnoticed by the citizens," she said at the time.
According to the historical catalog of earthquakes, as she said, the maximum magnitude recorded in that direction of active faulting is 5,5 (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1902), with several earthquakes with a magnitude of four to five Richter units.
As she explained, the earthquake that was registered on March 14 is close to the expected maximum magnitude in that area.
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