‘People are looking for their loved ones’: Croatia rocked by powerful 6.4 earthquake

Local Red Cross workers in Petrinja, Croatia

Credit: @IFRC_Europe

A powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake collapsed buildings in central Croatia on Tuesday, causing considerable damage to homes and other buildings in Petrinja, a town southeast of the capital Zagreb, with rescue teams racing to comb through the rubble for injured people.

The tremor, which struck at a depth of 10 kilometres at around 11:30 GMT according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), was also felt strongly some 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the epicentre in the capital Zagreb, where panicked residents raced onto the streets, according to an AFP reporter.

"We are pulling people from cars, we don’t know if we have dead or injured," the mayor of Petrinja Darinko Dumbovic told regional broadcaster N1.

"There is general panic, people are looking for their loved ones."

N1 quoted a Petrinja town official as saying that a 12-year old child in Petrinja had been killed, but gave no details. It was not immediately possible to verify the report.

Damaged buildings in Petrinja, Croatia

Credit: @IFRC_Europe

N1 television also reported that a collapsed building had fallen on a car.

The footage showed firefighters trying to remove the debris to reach the car, which was buried underneath. A man and a small boy were rescued from the car and carried into an ambulance.

Images of the town, which is home to around 20,000, also showed collapsed roofs and streets strewn with bricks and other debris.

Croatian seismologist Kresimir Kuk described the earthquake as "extremely strong," far stronger than another one that hit Zagreb and nearby areas in spring. He warned people to keep out of potentially shaky, old buildings and move to the newer areas of the city because of the aftershocks.

The earthquake Tuesday was felt throughout the country and in neighboring Serbia and Bosnia. It even was felt as far away as Graz in southern Austria, the Austria Press Agency reported.

Slovenia’s STA news agency said that the country’s sole nuclear power plant which is 100 km from the epicentre was shut down as a precaution.

The same area in Croatia was struck by a 5.2 quake on Monday, causing some damage to buildings.

The Balkan region lies on major fault lines and is regularly hit by earthquakes.