On June 1, 1913, at 11.28 a.m., Northern Bulgaria was shaken by a 7th magnitude earthquake. The day was Saturday. According to seismologists, the magnitude of the earthquake was about 7th magnitude on the Richter scale. The epicenter was in Gorna Oryahovitsa at a depth of about 10 km. The destruction zone covered 1,000 sq. km, and the earthquake was felt throughout Bulgaria, recalls Dani Ivanov in his blog.
The consequences were catastrophic. In Veliko Tarnovo, the historic churches “St. St. Peter and Paul”, ”St. Forty Martyrs”, ”St. Dimitar”, “Uspenie Bogorodichno” are in ruins. The churches built by Kolyu Ficheto ”St. Constantine and Elena”, ”St. Nicholas”, ”St. St. Cyril and Methodius”, ”St. Spas” are damaged to varying degrees, and the cathedral temple ”Nativity of the Virgin” is completely destroyed. Many of the administrative and residential buildings are uninhabitable without major repairs. The most catastrophically damaged was the boys' high school ”St. Cyril”, which served as an infirmary and under the ruins there remain dozens of soldiers wounded in the Balkan Wars.
According to data from the register of death certificates for 1913, the number of registered deaths in Veliko Tarnovo on June 1 at 11:30 a.m. was 20 people and 1 died at 2:00 p.m. The number of those who died later and the injured could not be established. Months after the earthquake, a technical commission was formed to establish the value of the damage to the destroyed buildings. It divided the buildings into six categories, depending on the degree of destruction, and the total value of the damage to the building stock was estimated at 12,316,000 leva.
The situation was no different in the epicenter of the earthquake, Gorna Oryahovitsa. According to the agents of the then insurance company “Bulgaria”, the building stock of the city was destroyed by 85%, in neighboring Lyaskovets and Dolna Oryahovitsa the damage was 55-60%. 16 people died under the ruins of the destroyed buildings. The buildings of the new theater and casino, the hotel “Boris”, the building of the BNB branch, the community center “Napredak”, the buildings of the sugar factory and the ceramic factory “Centrala” are completely destroyed. The churches “St. Trinity”, “St. George”, “St. Bogoroditsa”, “St. Athanasius” are completely destroyed. The primary school and the Girls' High School in the city are also in ruins.