Severe earthquake strikes Southern Croatia killing seven and injuring several others inside collapsed buildings
A powerful earthquake hit Croatia, at 11.19 am, the 2nd quake in the past 2 days., killing at least seven people including a 12-year-old girl with several others injured, and caused considerable damage to buildings in Petrinja, a town southeast of the capital Zagreb. The 6.4 magnitude earthquake downed phone lines as the tremor was felt throughout the country, as well as in neighbouring Serbia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, as far away as Graz in Southern Austria.
“The centre of Petrinja as it used to be no longer exists. One girl died and there are injuries and people inside the collapsed buildings” according to state broadcaster HRT.
Petrinja Mayor Darinko Dumbovic said “My town has been completely destroyed, we have dead children. This is like Hiroshima – half of the city no longer exists.” Petrinja is 37 miles from Zagreb. The fallen bricks and dust littered the streets as several houses completely destroyed. The Croatian army was deployed in Petrinja to help with the rescue operations.
The same area was struck by a 5.2 quake on Monday. Today’s quake was 6.4. Petrinja is a town of about 25, 000 people where 20 injured people were hospitalised. The last strong earthquake struck in the 1990s when the Adriatic town of Ston was badly damaged by a 6.0 magnitude quake.
“We are pulling people from cars, we don’t know if we have dead or injured. There is general panic, people are looking for their loved ones“ Darinko Dumbovic, the Mayor of Petrinja said as Petrinja, home to 20, 000 people were hit by another weaker tremor.