Quick notes:
- 20:18:48 – earthquake starts;
- Hotnews is the only website to publish the undocumented news – 20:21 (~2,3 minutes after the earthquake, title “Cutremur in Bucuresti”);
- 20:25 -20:28 – no news on Antena3.ro/Realitatea.net – both websites receive heavy traffic;
- Antena3.ro – 20:29, first documented news;
- Realitatea.net 20:32, first news about the earthquake, heavy traffic, website is down;
- 20:33 – Panic hits Bucharest – main phone lines are down;
Conclusions:
- Hotnews was the first to mention the earthquake while Antena3 is the first channel to provide the official intel in less than 10 minutes. Realitatea.net copied the info 3 minutes after was published on Antena3 and now it looks that Hotnews copied the info from Antena3;
- the competition between the first 3 players is very hard and every minute can make a difference;
- Antena3 had the fastest reaction and broadcasted the first news but Hotnews had the fastest online presence announcing the event in a very short time;
- StirileProTv.ro is the only website without a reaction in the first 30 minutes after the earthquake mainly because they don’t have dedicated online editors and they depend on Mediafax and PROTV;
- Mediafax had its first release on 20:59;
- It seems that people, instead of going outside their buildings, they went online;
- 100 blog posts in the first 50 minutes after the earthquake (Google Blog Search/tag: cutremur);
- more reactions (compared to blogs blogs) on twitter #cutremur;
- I recall an early study made by Romanian government – during a crisis, Romanians switch to official state channels (TVR, Radio Romania) to find out more about what is happening. I think that we can notice a switch in this behavior since many people try to go online and find out more;
Congratulations:
- Gandul.info – they published the news at 21:20 but on Google it shows that it was published 19 hours ago 
– nice Google trick but I don’t think they’re going to rank very high.
E, acum si tu sa spui la cat timp dupa cutremur ai scris postul
I was in Sala Radio in downtown Bucharest conducting a 200 voice Men’s Chorus Festival along with a symphony orchestra. My podium felt like a skateboard on rough ground. Plenty of dust and “earthquake confetti” fell on the lid of the 9 foot grand piano. I continued to conduct and the musicians held their places. I have been through a variety of California’s large quakes. This was a bit memorable but essentially a non event.
@Dan – Eram online cand s-a intamplat, am profitat de ocazie ca sa fac un studiu de caz… cine stie cand vine urmatorul cutremur
@Lou – I’m happy to see you’re ok
Am simtit cutremurul la 09.50, azi, miercuri, 05.08.2009. Cam 4 pe Richter, nu tare dar cu vreo trei-patru socuri.