111 years ago, the day was Saturday again. At 11:28 a.m. on June 1, 1913, Northern Bulgaria was shaken by a magnitude 7 earthquake. The epicenter is in Gorna Oryahovitsa at a depth of about 10 km. The zone of destruction covers 1000 square km, and the tremor was felt throughout Bulgaria, Dani Ivanov recalls in his blog.
The consequences are catastrophic. In Veliko Tarnovo, the historical churches “St. St. Peter and Paul, “St. Forty Martyrs, “St. Dimitar”, “Assumption of the Virgin” are in ruins. The churches built by Kolyu Ficheto “St. Constantine and Elena”, “St. Nicholas”, “St. St. Cyril and Methodius, “St. Spas”, and the cathedral church “ Nativity of the Virgin” is completely destroyed. Many of the administrative and residential buildings are uninhabitable without major repairs. The men's high school “St. Kiril”, which served as an infirmary and under the ruins, and dozens of soldiers wounded in the Balkan Wars remain.
According to data from the register of death certificates for 1913, the number of registered dead in Veliko Tarnovo on June 1 at 11.30 a.m. was 20 people and 1 died at 2 p.m. The number of those who died later and the injured cannot to determine. Months after the earthquake, a technical commission was set up to assess the value of the damage from the destroyed buildings. It divides the buildings into six categories, depending on the degree of destruction, and the total value of the damage to the building stock is calculated at BGN 12,316,000.
The situation is no different in the epicenter of the Gorna Oryahovitsa earthquake. According to the agents of the then insurance company “Bulgaria” 85% of the city's building stock was destroyed, in the 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 the casino, the "Boris" hotel, the building of the BNB branch, the "Napredak" community center, the buildings of the sugar factory and the "Central" ceramic factory were completely destroyed. The churches of “St. Trinity”, “St. George”, “St. Virgin”, “St. Athanasius” are completely destroyed. The primary school and the Girls' High School in the town are also in ruins.