The hypocenter was situated in the Vrancea Mountains, the most seismically active part of Romania, at a depth of 85.3 km.

Communist ruler Nicolae Ceaușescu suspended his official visit to Nigeria and declared a state of emergency.

The economic losses are believed to have been as high as two billion US dollars though the sum was not confirmed by the authorities at that time.

[9] Three public buildings, the Ministry of Metallurgy, the Faculty of Chemistry, and the Computer Center also collapsed, but were not heavily staffed at the time of the earthquake.

[12][13] No catastrophic fires occurred, but electrical power was lost in large areas of the city for about a day.

The city of Zimnicea was reported to be in ruins: 175 houses collapsed, while 523 sustained serious damage, 4,000 people were displaced, and there were hundreds of victims.

These consisted in landslides, liquefaction, settlements, water spurting; in the Vrancea Mountains, the course of the Zăbala River was partially blocked, forming a small natural dam lake.

[18] In Ruse, the tremors were strong but there was little damage; only one person perished, hit by a huge architectural ornament that fell down from a nearby building.

[19][20] [citation needed] The earthquake epicenter was located in the south-west part of Vrancea County, the most active seismic area in Romania, at a depth of about 85.3 km (53.0 mi).

The shock wave was felt in almost all countries in the Balkan Peninsula, as well as the Soviet republics of Ukraine and Moldavia, albeit with a lower intensity.

The strongest aftershock occurred on the morning of 5 March 1977, at 02:00 AM, at a depth of 109 km (68 mi), with a magnitude was 4.9 on the Richter scale.

By the morning of March 5 work was underway on reestablishing basic utilities – the water, gas, and electrical grids, as well as the phone lines.

[24] The presidential couple and the Romanian delegation in Nigeria returned to Romania during the night of 4–5 March 1977, arriving at Otopeni Airport at 8:15am.

[25] Teams of soldiers and firefighters responsible for the rescue of possible survivors received aid from the Red Cross.