The 2012 Pernik earthquake was a 5.6 Mw magnitude earthquake, which struck 24 km (15 miles) west of Bulgaria's capital Sofia and 9 km (6 miles) north-northwest of the provincial center Pernik on 22 May 2012 at 3:00 am local time (00:00 UTC) at a depth of 9.4 kilometers (5.8 mi).

[4] According to the civil defense office, there were widespread reports of toppled chimneys, cracked walls and broken windows in the Pernik area, where a state of emergency was declared for 24 hours.

[2][5] One of the three cooling towers of the city's Republika Power Plant partially collapsed during the tremor, and as a result the capacity has been temporarily reduced.

[7] The Bulgarian government initially sent 14 teams to the area to assess the damage, and their first reports concluded that around 60% of all homes have been affected.

At least 150 people have been relocated to temporary shelters, and several schools and kindergartens in the area would have to be demolished or rebuilt.