Earthquake strikes central Croatia, killing young girl and damaging buildings

A strong earthquake in central Croatia has killed at least one person – a girl, injured many and caused considerable damage to buildings in Petrinja, a town southeast of the capital Zagreb.

The earthquake, which downed phone lines and sent Croatians into a state of shock, was felt throughout the country on Tuesday, as well as in neighbouring Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and as far away as Graz in southern Austria.

“We have information that one girl has died … so far we have no other information on casualties,” Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who was visiting Petrinja, told local media.

The child’s age or other details were not immediately available.

“The centre of Petrinja as it used to be no longer exists,” state broadcaster HRT said in its report. “One girl died and there are injuries and people inside collapsed buildings.”

Al Jazeera reporter Marin Versic, reporting from Petrinja, described scenes of chaos as emergency services rushed to find survivors and treat the injured.

“More victims are expected,” he said. “Army, firefighters, ambulance – everyone is here. I’ve seen firefighters and ambulance cars arrive, emergency workers checked a child for a pulse and transferred them to hospital.

“They are trying to organise themselves. People are shouting, saying that the nursing home should be attended to first.”

Petrinja Mayor Darinko Dumbovic said in a statement broadcast by HRT TV: “My town has been completely destroyed, we have dead children.

“This is like Hiroshima – half of the city no longer exists.”

Petrinja is about 60km (37 miles) from Zagreb.

Al Jazeera reporters in the town witnessed a boy and his father being pulled from a car buried in the rubble.

The European Mediterranean Seismological Center said the 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit 46km (17 miles) southeast of Zagreb.

Blanka, a resident of Sisak city, about 8.5 miles (14km) from Petrinja, was inside a shop when the earthquake struck.

“Everything collapsed, all of our things are inside,” she told Al Jazeera. “I don’t know what to expect. I am still shaking, I can still feel the earthquake.”

Tomislav Fabijanic, head of emergency medical services in Sisak, said there were many injured in Petrinja and in Sisak.

“There are fractures, there are concussions and some had to be operated on,” he said,

Croatian Red Cross said it was responding to a “very serious” situation in Petrinja following the earthquake.

The same area was struck by a 5.2 quake on Monday. In March, an earthquake of magnitude 5.3 hit Zagreb causing one death and injuring 27 people.

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.

In Zagreb, people ran out into the streets and parks in fear. Many reportedly were leaving the city, ignoring a travel ban imposed because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Stephen Hicks, a seismologist at Imperial College in London, tweeted: “We can probably expect quite strong shaking and hence some damage to buildings from this earthquake.”

Slovenia’s Krsko nuclear power plant was shut down as a precaution, the plant’s spokeswoman said Tuesday.

“I can confirm the preventive shutdown,” spokeswoman Ida Novak Jerele told AFP.