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67-461: Following the 1977 Vrancea earthquake , Bucharest's city center suffered significant damage, and a large number of historic buildings were demolished to make way for the new Centrul Civic ( Civic Center ). As part of the project, Bulevardul Unirii was to be Communist Romania 's answer to Paris 's Avenue des Champs-Élysées . Construction began on June 25, 1984. Initially called Bulevardul Victoria Socialismului ( Victory of Socialism Boulevard ),

134-539: A Country Assistance Strategy is produced in cooperation with the local government and any interested stakeholders and may rely on analytical work performed by the bank or other parties. The World Bank's negative pledge clause prohibits its debtor countries from using public assets to repay other creditors before they repay the World Bank. The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries . It

201-404: A World Bank loan was France in 1947. The bank's president at the time, John McCloy , chose France over two other applicants, Poland and Chile. The loan was for US$ 250 million, half the amount requested, and came with strict conditions. France had to agree to produce a balanced budget and give priority of debt repayment to the World Bank over other governments. World Bank staff closely monitored

268-547: A borrower country to repay the loan. In 1960, the International Development Association was formed (as opposed to a UN fund named SUNFED), providing soft loans to developing countries . Before 1974, the reconstruction and development loans the World Bank made were relatively small. Its staff was aware of the need to instill confidence in the bank. Fiscal conservatism ruled, and loan applications had to meet strict criteria. The first country to receive

335-595: A new president was appointed: Ajay Banga . His term began on 2 June 2023. He was supported by the American president Joe Biden partly because he supports climate action . He is also expected to help low-income countries deal with debts. He is the first Indian American to lead the bank. The vice presidents of the bank are its principal managers, in charge of regions, sectors, networks and functions. There are two executive vice presidents, three senior vice presidents, and 24 vice presidents. The boards of directors consist of

402-621: A result, reducing inequality, in this definition, had become an integral part of the World Bank’s objectives and effectively “broadened its mandate”. The World Bank has been criticized for not embracing the reduction of inequality (be it economic inequality within a country, or international inequality between countries) as a goal. Instead, the bank has taken an instrumental approach to the issue, in which inequality policies were seen as useful as long as they contributed to reducing (extreme) poverty or promoting average economic growth. As part of

469-583: A state of emergency throughout the country. In the following days, the Head of State conducted visits to Bucharest to assess damage. Teams of soldiers and firefighters responsible for the rescue of possible survivors received aid from the Red Cross . They were joined by the Buftea film studio stuntmen and many volunteers. Many people were rescued from the ruins, some after several days of being trapped. Individuals killed in

536-476: A tacit understanding between the United States and Europe, the president of the World Bank has been selected from candidates nominated by the United States, the largest shareholder in the bank. This is significant because the World Bank tends to lend more readily to countries that are friendly with the United States, not because of direct U.S. influence but because of the employees of the World Bank. In 2012, for

603-809: A total of 30 dead and 300 wounded. Vaslui also suffered heavy losses, both human – seven people dead, and material. In Ploiești around 200 homes were destroyed, and a further 2,000 were seriously damaged; the situation was also serious in Buzău County , where about 1,900 buildings were affected. In Plopeni , a Worker's Dormitory made of masonry totally collapsed, killing 30 to 60 workers and injuring many. Counties in Transylvania and Dobruja showed no serious damage. The earthquake induced geomorphological phenomena in southern, eastern and northern Wallachia , as well as southern Moldavia . These consisted in landslides , liquefaction , settlements, water spurting; in

670-615: Is based on economic size in addition to the International Development Association contributions. The following table shows the subscriptions of the top 20 member countries of the World Bank by voting power in the following World Bank institutions as of December 2014 or March 2015: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC),

737-531: Is engaged in several global partnerships and initiatives, and takes a role in working toward addressing climate change . The World Bank hosts an Open Knowledge Repository for its publications. In 2020, the World Bank’s total commitments amounted to USD 77.1 billion, it had 12,300 full-time staff, and it operated in 145 countries. World Bank projects cover a range of areas from building schools to fighting disease, providing water and electricity, and environmental protection , and as such, they are linked to most of

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804-734: Is listed in the Registry of Research Data Repositories re3data.org. The World Bank also endorses the Principles for Digital Development . Together with the World Health Organization , the World Bank administers the International Health Partnership (IHP+). IHP+ is a group of partners committed to improving the health of citizens in developing countries. Partners work together to put international principles for aid effectiveness and development cooperation into practice in

871-459: Is primarily voluntary. Based on an agreement between the United Nations and the World Bank in 1981, Development Business became the official source for World Bank Procurement Notices, Contract Awards, and Project Approvals. In 1998, the agreement was renegotiated, and included in this agreement was a joint venture to create an online version of the publication. Today, Development Business

938-643: Is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Group . The bank is headquartered in Washington, D.C. , in the United States . It provided around $ 98.83 billion in loans and assistance to "developing" and transition countries in the 2021 fiscal year. The bank's stated mission is to achieve the twin goals of ending extreme poverty and building shared prosperity. Total lending as of 2015 for

1005-480: Is the primary publication for all major multilateral development banks, U.N. agencies, and several national governments, many of which have made the publication of their tenders and contracts in Development Business a mandatory requirement. The World Bank collects and processes large amounts of data and generates them on the basis of economic models. These data and models have gradually been made available to

1072-426: The 2030 Agenda , Sustainable Development Goal 10 aims at reducing inequalities within countries and among countries. World Bank officials participated in the negotiations for SDG 10 in the years prior to 2015. They advocated for the adoption of the bank's own preferred benchmarks. This ensured that other organizations would evaluate their success based on the bank’s own definition of inequality. Some have argued that

1139-620: The International Development Association (IDA), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). Member countries are allocated votes at the time of membership and subsequently for additional subscriptions to capital (one vote for each share of capital stock held by the member). The World Bank plays a significant role in global economic governance due to its broad mandate, its vast resource base, its frequent and regular interactions with governments as clients, and its myriad publications and databases. In 2020,

1206-523: The Sustainable Development Goals . The World Bank has been criticized as promoting inflation and harming economic development . There has also been criticism of the bank's governance and response to the COVID-19 pandemic . The current president (starting in 2023) is Ajay Banga who is known to support climate action , unlike his predecessor David Malpass . The World Bank was created at

1273-645: The Vrancea Mountains , the course of the Zăbala River was partially blocked, forming a small natural dam lake. The earthquake of 4 March heavily impacted Bulgaria. The city of Svishtov was the most affected. Here, three blocks of flats collapsed, killing up to 120 people, among them 27 children. Many other buildings were damaged, including the Church of the Holy Trinity . In Ruse, the tremors were strong but there

1340-587: The World Bank Group . It was established along with the International Monetary Fund at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference . After a slow start, its first loan was to France in 1947. In its early years, it primarily focused on rebuilding Europe. Over time, it focused on providing loans to developing world countries. In the 1970s, the World Bank re-conceptualized its mission of facilitating development as being oriented around poverty reduction . For

1407-467: The health sector . IHP+ mobilizes national governments, development agencies, civil society, and others to support a single, country-led national health strategy in a well-coordinated way. In September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic , the World Bank announced a $ 12 billion plan to supply "low and middle income countries" with a vaccine once it was approved. In June 2022, the bank reported that $ 10.1 billion had been allocated to supply 78 countries with

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1474-584: The 1944 Bretton Woods Conference , along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The president of the World Bank is traditionally an American . The World Bank and the IMF are both based in Washington, D.C., and work closely with each other. Although many countries were represented at the Bretton Woods Conference, the United States and United Kingdom were the most powerful in attendance and dominated

1541-518: The Bulevardul Nicolae Bălcescu – Bulevardul Magheru axis, such as the Algiu (popularly known as Scala), Dunărea, and Casata buildings, and the nearby Continental-Colonadelor and Nestor buildings, completely or largely collapsed, while portions of others gave way. Out of the 33 multi-story buildings that collapsed, 28 were built between 1920 and 1940, a period when earthquake-resistant design

1608-518: The United States (15.85%), Japan (6.84%), China (4.42%), Germany (4.00%), the United Kingdom (3.75%), France (3.75%), India (2.91%), Russia (2.77%), Saudi Arabia (2.77%) and Italy (2.64%). Under the changes, known as 'Voice Reform – Phase 2', countries other than China that saw significant gains included South Korea , Turkey, Mexico , Singapore, Greece , Czech Republic , Hungary , Brazil, India , and Spain. Most developed countries' voting power

1675-493: The World Bank Group and its staff where allegation of non-observance of contracts of employment or terms of appointment had not been honored. McNamara was succeeded by U.S. President Jimmy Carter 's nominee, Alden W. Clausen , in 1980. Clausen replaced many members of McNamara's staff and crafted a different mission emphasis. His 1982 decision to replace the bank's Chief Economist, Hollis B. Chenery , with Anne Krueger

1742-414: The World Bank Group president and 25 executive directors. The president is the presiding officer, and ordinarily has no vote except to break a tie. The executive directors as individuals cannot exercise any power or commit or represent the bank unless the boards specifically authorized them to do so. With the term beginning 1 November 2010, the number of executive directors increased by one, to 25. In 2020,

1809-469: The World Bank had 12,300 full-time staff, and it operated in 145 countries. Some notable politicians who worked for the World Bank include: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has 189 member countries, while the International Development Association (IDA) has 174. Each member state of IBRD should also be a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and only members of IBRD are allowed to join other institutions within

1876-453: The World Bank reduced the transformative potential of SDG 10 during the agenda-setting stage. The bank has stated its ambition to help catalyze the SDGs through “thought leadership, global convening, and country-level uptake”. In general, the World Bank strategically uses the power of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in its favor to reinforce its own policies or interests while minimizing

1943-616: The World Bank's 2012 annual meeting in Tokyo, a review of these safeguards was initiated, which was welcomed by several civil society organisations. As a result, the World Bank developed a new Environmental and Social Framework, which has been in implementation since 1 October 2018. The World Bank or the World Bank Group is also a sitting observer in the United Nations Sustainable Development Group . Beginning in 1989, in response to harsh criticism from many groups,

2010-404: The World Bank’s total commitments amounted to USD 77.1 billion and it operated in 145 countries. World Bank projects cover a range of areas from building schools to fighting disease, providing water and electricity, and environmental protection , and as such, they are linked to most of the Sustainable Development Goals . As a guideline to the World Bank's operations in any particular country,

2077-530: The bank (such as IDA). The five United Nations member states that are not members of the World Bank are Andorra, Cuba, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and North Korea. Kosovo is not a member of the UN, but is a member of the IMF and the World Bank Group, including the IBRD and IDA. In 2010, voting powers at the World Bank were revised to increase the voice of developing countries, notably China. The countries with most voting power are now

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2144-566: The bank began including environmental groups and NGOs in its loans to mitigate the past effects of its development policies that had prompted the criticism. It also formed an implementing agency, in accordance with the Montreal Protocols, to stop ozone-depletion damage to the Earth's atmosphere by phasing out the use of 95% of ozone-depleting chemicals, with a target date of 2015. Since then, in accordance with its so-called "Six Strategic Themes",

2211-559: The bank has put various additional policies into effect to preserve the environment while promoting development. For example, in 1991, the bank announced that to protect against deforestation , especially in the Amazon , it would not finance any commercial logging or infrastructure projects that harm the environment. For the poorest developing countries in the world, the bank's assistance plans are based on poverty reduction strategies ; by combining an analysis of local groups with an analysis of

2278-400: The chance of being itself reshaped or transformed by these goals. Scholars found that the World Bank used the growing momentum of the (SDGs) to further its strategic objectives without being influenced by the SDGs in turn. Also, the bank engaged with the SDGs selectively; efforts to integrate the goals into organizational practices remained limited; and their inclusion in country-level processes

2345-556: The country's financial and economic situation the World Bank develops a plan pertaining to the country in question. The government then identifies the country's priorities and targets for the reduction of poverty, and the World Bank instigates its aid efforts correspondingly. Forty-five countries pledged US$ 25.1 billion in "aid for the world's poorest countries", aid that goes to the World Bank International Development Association (IDA), which distributes

2412-587: The earthquake as a pretext to start the major demolitions campaign in Bucharest in 1982, a campaign that lasted up to 1991. In Bulgaria the earthquake is known as the Vrancea earthquake or Svishtov earthquake . Three blocks of flats in the Bulgarian town of Svishtov (near Zimnicea) collapsed, killing more than 100 people. Many other buildings were damaged, including the Church of the Holy Trinity . In Soviet Moldavia

2479-523: The earthquake destroyed and damaged many buildings; in the capital Chișinău a panic broke out. The earthquake of 4 March 1977 incurred one of the heaviest earthquake-related death tolls of the 1970s around the world. It caused the loss of 1,578 lives and injured an additional 11,221, with 90% of the fatalities being in the capital city Bucharest . The reported damage included 32,897 collapsed or demolished dwellings, 34,582 homeless families, 763 industrial units affected and many other damage in all sectors of

2546-463: The earthquake include: World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development . The World Bank is the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA), two of five international organizations owned by

2613-472: The economy. A 1978 World Bank report estimated a total loss of US$ 2.048 billion, with Bucharest accounting for 70% of the total, i.e. US$ 1.4 billion. According to this report, out of Romania's 40 counties, 23 were strongly affected. Based on focal depth of 110 km The city center saw the greatest destruction and loss of life, since the earthquake particularly affected multi-storey buildings, mostly apartment buildings. Iconic interwar structures along

2680-405: The first time, two non-US citizens were nominated. The nominee is subject to confirmation by the board of executive directors to serve a five-year, renewable term. While most World Bank presidents have had banking experience, some have not. On 23 March 2012, U.S. president Barack Obama announced that the United States would nominate Jim Yong Kim as the next president of the bank. Jim Yong Kim

2747-723: The last 10 years through Development Policy Financing was approximately $ 117 billion. Its five organizations are: The first two are sometimes collectively referred to as the World Bank. To ensure that World Bank-financed operations do not compromise these goals but instead add to their realisation, the following environmental, social, and legal safeguards were defined: Environmental Assessment, Indigenous Peoples, Involuntary Resettlement, Physical Cultural Resources, Forests, Natural Habitats, Pest Management, Safety of Dams, Projects in Disputed Areas, Projects on International Waterways, and Performance Standards for Private Sector Activities. At

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2814-492: The last 30 years, it has included NGOs and environmental groups in its loan portfolio. Its loan strategy is influenced by environmental and social safeguards. As of 2022 , the World Bank is run by a president and 25 executive directors, as well as 29 various vice presidents. IBRD and IDA have 189 and 174 member countries, respectively. The U.S., Japan, China, Germany and the U.K. have the most voting power. The bank aims loans at developing countries to help reduce poverty. The bank

2881-719: The loans to eighty poorer countries. Wealthier nations sometimes fund their own aid projects, including those for diseases. Robert B. Zoellick, the former president of the World Bank, said when the loans were announced on 15 December 2007, that IDA money "is the core funding that the poorest developing countries rely on". World Bank organizes the Development Marketplace Awards , a grant program that surfaces and funds development projects with potential for development impact that are scalable and/or replicable. The grant beneficiaries are social enterprises with projects that aim to deliver social and public services to groups with

2948-462: The lowest incomes. In 2013 the bank adopted the concept of Shared Prosperity as one of the World Bank’s “Twin Goals” for that year, with the other one focusing on poverty reduction, aiming to reduce the share of people in extreme poverty to 3 percent of the global population by 2030. The bank defined Shared Prosperity as increasing the income of the bottom 40 percent of the population in each country. As

3015-448: The negotiations. The intention behind the founding of the World Bank was to provide temporary loans to low-income countries that could not obtain loans commercially. The bank may also make loans and demand policy reforms from recipients. In its early years, the bank made a slow start for two reasons: it was underfunded, and there were leadership struggles between the US executive director and

3082-441: The northern banks that had been the primary sources of funding. Rotberg used the global bond market to increase the capital available to the bank. One consequence of the period of poverty alleviation lending was the rapid rise of debt of developing countries . From 1976 to 1980, developing world debt rose at an average annual rate of 20%. The World Bank Administrative Tribunal was established in 1980, to decide on disputes between

3149-472: The president of the organization. When the Marshall Plan went into effect in 1947, many European countries began receiving aid from other sources. Faced with this competition, the World Bank shifted its focus to non-European allies. Until 1968, its loans were earmarked for the construction of infrastructure works, such as seaports, highway systems, and power plants, that would generate enough income to enable

3216-527: The public in a way that encourages reuse, whereas the recent publications describing them are available as open access under a Creative Commons Attribution License , for which the bank received the SPARC Innovator 2012 award. The World Bank hosts the Open Knowledge Repository as an official open access repository for its research outputs and knowledge products. The World Bank's repository

3283-529: The road is lined with apartment blocks and various public buildings of socialist-realism inspiration. The boulevard is served by Piața Unirii metro station at Union Square. 44°25′35″N 26°06′46″E  /  44.42639°N 26.11278°E  / 44.42639; 26.11278 This Romanian road or road transport-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 1977 Vrancea earthquake The 1977 Vrancea earthquake occurred on 4 March 1977, at 21:22 local time, and

3350-526: The structural adjustment programs of the World Bank had been responsible for "reduced health, nutritional and educational levels for tens of millions of children in Asia , Latin America , and Africa ". The president of the bank is the president of the entire World Bank Group . The president is responsible for chairing meetings of the boards of directors and for overall management of the bank. Traditionally, based on

3417-538: The sum was not confirmed by the authorities at that time. A detailed report on the destruction the earthquake caused was never published. Most of the damage was concentrated in Romania's capital , Bucharest , where about 33 large buildings collapsed. Most of those buildings were built before World War II , and were not reinforced. After the earthquake, the Romanian government imposed tougher construction standards, and would use

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3484-803: The time of the earthquake, Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu were on an official visit to Nigeria . Ceaușescu heard about the disaster in the country from a Romanian official. Initially, news about the earthquake were confusing, and people talked about a much larger catastrophe. Due to a power failure in Bucharest , communication services were down for several hours. The population took to the streets, scared of possible aftershocks. At that moment, authorities had not taken any concrete steps. Residents of many damaged buildings took part in ad hoc rescue efforts. Doctors, soldiers, and many civilians helped in these rescue efforts. Nine hospitals were shut down. Floreasca Emergency Hospital in Bucharest, having been seriously damaged,

3551-641: The time sub-standard concrete had been found used in the said building, and air pockets were formed in the concrete during construction, and even a boot was found in the concrete). 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. On 5 March, the first toll of the disaster indicated 508 fatalities and 2,600 injuries. A final toll showed that 90% of

3618-639: The use of the funds to ensure that the French government met the conditions. In addition, before the loan was approved, the United States Department of State told the French government that its members associated with the Communist Party would first have to be removed. The French government complied and removed the Communist coalition government —the so-called tripartite . Within hours, the loan to France

3685-537: The vaccine The US Treasury has committed $ 667 million for the World Bank's global Pandemic Fund, a third of the $ 2 billion the fund hopes to raise. The Pandemic Fund, established in September 2022, is a collaborative initiative among countries, implementing partners, philanthropies, and civil society organizations. It aims to fund investments that address critical gaps in pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capacities at national, regional, and global levels, with

3752-443: The victims were actor Toma Caragiu and writers A. E. Bakonsky , Alexandru Ivasiuc and Corneliu M. Popescu . Communist ruler Nicolae Ceaușescu suspended his official visit to Nigeria and declared a state of emergency . About 32,900 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Immediately after the earthquake, 35,000 families were without shelter. The economic losses are believed to have been as high as two billion US dollars though

3819-493: The victims were from Bucharest: 1,424 deaths and 7,598 injuries. No catastrophic fires occurred, but electrical power was lost in large areas of the city for about a day. Nine of 35 hospitals were evacuated. In the cities of Focșani and Buzău , unreinforced masonry walls in low-rise construction collapsed partially or totally, and there were signs of movement between structural elements and adjacent masonry in-fill walls in recently constructed buildings. The city of Zimnicea

3886-400: Was an example of this new focus. Krueger was known for her criticism of development funding and for describing developing countries' governments as " rent-seeking states". During the 1980s, the bank emphasized lending to service debt of developing countries, and structural adjustment policies designed to streamline the economies of developing nations. UNICEF reported in the late 1980s that

3953-491: Was approved. From 1974 to 1980, the bank concentrated on meeting the basic needs of people in the developing world . The size and number of loans to borrowers greatly increased, as loan targets expanded from infrastructure into social services and other sectors. These changes can be attributed to Robert McNamara , who was appointed to the presidency in 1968 by Lyndon B. Johnson . McNamara implored bank treasurer Eugene Rotberg to seek out new sources of capital outside of

4020-412: Was elected on 27 April 2012 and reelected to a second five-year term in 2017. He announced that he would resign effective 1 February 2019. He was replaced on an interim basis by now-former World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva , then by David Malpass on 9 April 2019. David Malpass faced criticism in 2023 as he had "sparked outcry by appearing to question the role of humans in climate change ". In 2023,

4087-623: 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. Seismic movement was followed by aftershocks of smaller magnitude . 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 . Other aftershocks' magnitudes did not exceed 4.3 or 4.5 M w . At

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4154-543: Was felt throughout the Balkans . It had a magnitude of 7.5, making it the second most powerful earthquake recorded in Romania in the 20th century, after the 10 November 1940 seismic event . The hypocenter was situated in the Vrancea Mountains , the most seismically active part of Romania, at a depth of 85.3 km. The earthquake killed about 1,578 people (1,424 in Bucharest ) in Romania, and wounded more than 11,300. Among

4221-513: Was little damage; only one person perished, hit by a huge architectural ornament that fell down from a nearby building. According to official data, 2,765 buildings were destroyed in the Moldavian SSR , while 20,763 buildings suffered significant damage. 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

4288-471: Was overwhelmed, and subsequently evacuated. The Dinamo Stadium was turned into a triage point for the wounded. 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. The presidential couple and the Romanian delegation in Nigeria returned to Romania during the night of 4–5 March 1977. Afterwards Nicolae Ceaușescu imposed

4355-454: Was reduced, along with a few developing countries such as Nigeria . The voting powers of the United States, Russia and Saudi Arabia were unchanged. The changes were brought about with the goal of making voting more universal in regards to standards, rule-based objective indicators, and transparency among other things. Now, developing countries have an increased voice in the "Pool Model", backed especially by Europe. Additionally, voting power

4422-576: 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. In as much as 80% of the city was destroyed, Zimnicea was rebuilt from the ground. In Craiova , more than 550 buildings were severely damaged, among them the Museum of Art, the Oltenia Museum, the university and the County Library. Initial estimates indicate

4489-597: Was unknown. Two buildings which collapsed were built in the communist era: a building from the Lizeanu housing complex (built in 1962) had a small section of it collapse during the earthquake because a support column was cut at one of the end sections of the building (ground floor, at a store), leading to that section eventually being demolished and mostly never rebuilt, and an apartment block in Militari named OD16 and built around 1972–1975 fully collapsed due to construction defects (at

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