What exactly happened on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Bugojno area, as well as a month ago at night, is still unclear. A mysterious, short, but strong tremor, accompanied by a sound reminiscent of a detonation, disturbed the residents. However, no detonation was registered, nor was any material damage recorded. Interestingly, on Tuesday, at 5:28 p.m., the devices of the Federal Hydrometeorological Institute (FHMZ) recorded an earthquake with an epicenter in Bugojno, a magnitude of 2.8 and an intensity of three degrees on the Mercalli scale. Such earthquakes are usually registered only by instruments.
However, as seismologist Amra Krehić told “Avaz”, the earthquake registered by the FHMZ devices in Bugojno was not natural, where tectonic plates are moving.
“So it was some kind of earthquake, but not a natural one. We can call it an artificial earthquake, and what caused it is not within our jurisdiction. That it was not a natural tremor of the ground can be seen from the records registered by our devices,” Krehić explained.
She reminded us that the most seismically active area is eastern and western Herzegovina, part of central Bosnia and the area around Banja Luka. In connection with this unusual, mysterious phenomenon, the mayor of Bugojno, Edin Mašić, spoke out yesterday, requesting assistance from the competent authorities. In an interview for “Dnevni Avaz”, Mašić said that they were told about the tremor of the ground a month ago that it was possible that it was a mountain shock, and the last one, he described to us, acted like a detonation.
He explained that he immediately contacted the police station, civil protection and all other services, however, it was determined that no demining activities, actions related to explosive devices or the like were recorded.
“There is nothing visible. There is no reported damage, there is simply no evidence that anything was done legally or illegally, from “Binas” to the old quarry that has not been used for 30 years. All our services, civil protection and the police have checked,” Mašić confirmed.
Because of all this, they sent a request to the FHMZ to install mobile seismological devices, and they also informed all other authorities with a request to find a solution to this problem that is causing concern among the residents of Bugojno.
“We have no choice but to wait for what the experts will say, because we are powerless on this issue,”Mašić concluded.
The document Vulnerability Assessment of the Municipality of Bugojno from Natural and Other Disasters from 2018 states that the strongest earthquake in the area, measuring six on the Mercalli scale, occurred on August 13, 1984.
Statistically, most of the area of the Bugojno municipality is relatively quiet in terms of seismic activity, not exceeding seven on the Mercalli scale.
