Romania quake catches Moldovan president in TV studio

CHISINAU (Reuters) - Moldovan President Maia Sandu took matters in stride on Monday when an earthquake in neighbouring Romania jolted the television studio where she was being interviewed.

"The next few weeks are going to be very, very busy," Sandu said at the close of the interview when the studio was clearly rocked at 5.40 p.m. by the 5.2 magnitude tremor.

She rolled her eyes and smiled wryly, but kept her calm.

"My goodness, something interesting is happening here," the presenter on public broadcaster Moldova 1 said. "A live premiere, an earthquake."

"So it appears, yes," the president replied and agreed with the presenter that the interview had "an unusual ending".

The quake, with its epicentre in Romania's highly seismic Vrancea county, was felt in Moldova and southern Ukraine, but caused no damage.

(Reporting by Alexander Tanas; Editing by Ron Popeski and Sandra Maler)