A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 shook Romania, the Earth Physics Institute said, causing panic but there were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage.
Wednesday night's quake was centered in Vrancea, 175km northeast of Bucharest on the eastern rim of the Carpathian mountains, the center said. It struck at 11:34pm and was felt in several other Romanian cities, including Iasi, Bacau and the capital, where it knocked out tele-phone service.
The quake also was felt in Turkey, Moldova and Ukraine, Turkey's private NTV television reported.
Bucharest's ambulance service received three times the usual number of calls, mostly from people suffering panic attacks. Hundreds of Bucharest residents briefly went into the streets in panic.
The effects of the earthquake were seen by viewers live on television because it struck when late night talk shows were on the air.
"I went on with the show, but God knows what was in my mind," said Dan Diaconescu, a TV journalist. He said cameramen in the station's sixth-floor studio clutched their cameras as the studio shook slightly.
Objects fell off shelves, and lamps and pictures swung in high-rise apartments. Buildings continued to sway for up to a minute, residents said.
Stefan Tataru, of the earthquake service in Vrancea, told private Realitatea TV that after-shocks were not likely.
Bucharest's prefect Dan Darabont convened an emergency meeting to decide measures in the case of a crisis.
The Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory's seismology center said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.5. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy between that higher initial reading and the Romanian estimate.
In some Istanbul neighborhoods, people rushed out of their homes in panic, NTV said. The observatory's telephone lines were jammed with people calling seeking information.
On Monday, an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.2 struck Vrancea, where another 5.1-magnitude quake hit on Sept. 27.
The mountainous area is home to a major fault line and has seen dozens of quakes in recent years. In 1977, a 7.6-magnitude quake killed more than 1,000 people in the Vrancea area when dozens of buildings collapsed.
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