In Romania, we can expect a 7.6 magnitude quake, professor Victor Mocanu, the specialist who predicted the devastating Chile quake, told Antena 3. Other specialists also warn that a quake stronger than the one in 1977 might soon occur in Romania.

Bucharest North and South ring road works, at motorway level, are to cost more than two billion euros, three times as much as the initial estimations in the feasibility studies conducted over 2002-2003 due to more than 60-fold rise in the price of land going to be expropriated.

The three powerful earthquakes that recently rocked Haiti, Japan and Chile brought back into the spotlight a sensitive topic, the imminence of a powerful quake in Romania, which is expected to be stronger than the one in 1977 and might make up to half a million victims. Although it might seem absurd, authorities seem to be out of their league on the matter, a fact they fully acknowledge. Moreover, it seems it’s a lot easier to prepare future burial spots for possible victims than to reinforce weak buildings in Bucharest and other cities.

The promotional slogan used by the tourism ministry headed by Elena Udrea has failed to impress the Romanians, most of them – as the press reveals – have not even heard of it. We don’t expect foreigners to be more informed about that either so we can just say bye-bye 40 million euros (that’s the amount spent for the promotion).