An earthquake struck eastern Slovakia on Monday evening, the Interior Ministry in Bratislava and local authorities have confirmed. According to official information, no people were injured. However, failures in technical infrastructure and cracks in building walls were reported locally. According to information from the TASR news agency, 15 single-family houses were evacuated in the village of Dapalovce and an apartment building in the city of Presov in order to check the statics of the buildings.
The Interior Ministry called on the population on its Facebook page that night to check gas and electricity lines for possible damage, but otherwise to remain calm. The earthquake was measured by the Seismology Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences on Monday evening at 8:23 p.m. at a depth of 17.8 kilometers with a magnitude of 4.9. The epicenter was in the municipality of the village of Dapalovce in the Vranov nad Toplou district.
Because there are several reservoirs in the affected area, inspections of the dam walls were carried out immediately. The Interior Ministry said no damage was found. The operation of the nuclear power plants in Mochovce and Jaslovske Bohunice is also not affected. According to information from the TASR news agency, there was a power outage in several communities due to line damage. An excursion boat got loose on the Velka Domasa reservoir and was caught up again by the fire department.
In part of the city of Humenne, the central supply of hot water was interrupted because a pipe from the district heating plant was damaged. In the municipality of Kosarovce, classes were canceled on Tuesday because it was feared that the statics of the primary school building could be endangered by the vibration. In several communities, residents reported mirrors and pictures falling from walls or vases from cupboards.
