The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.0 Earthquake at a depth of about 8.5 km, about 8 km southwest of the village of Vrutok in North Macedonia slightly before 4.55 am local time (slightly before 3.55 am GMT) on Wednesday 11 November 2020. This was felt across North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, southern Serbia, and parts of Bulgaria, but there are no reports of any damage or injuries.
North Macedonia, and the other states of the western Balkan Peninsula, form the eastern margin of the Adriatic Plate, a piece of the African Plate that has broken away and is now wedged into the southern part of the Eurasian Plate. This is being squeezed by the impact of Africa into Europe from the south, which is pushing western Italy, which sits on the Eurasian Plate, to the east, and Greece and Turkey, which sit on the Aegean and Anatolian Plates, to the west. This squeezing leads to uplift around the margins of the Adriatic Plate, in the Apennines Mountain Range of central Italy and the mountain ranges of the west Balkan Peninsula.
Witness accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events, and the structures that cause them. The international non-profit organisation Earthquake Report is interested in hearing from people who may have felt this event; if you felt this quake then you can report it to Earthquake Report here.
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