Magnitude 6.3 earthquake strikes Croatia; 1 death reported
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — A strong earthquake hit central Croatia on Tuesday, destroying buildings and sending panicked people fleeing into rubble-covered streets in a town southeast of the capital. Authorities said a girl was killed and at least 20 people were injured.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Center said a magnitude 6.3 quake hit 46 kilometers (28 miles) southeast of Zagreb. Reports said it caused widespread damage in the hardest-hit town of Petrinja. The same area was struck by a 5.2 quake on Monday.
Officials said a 12-year-old girl died in Petrinja, a town of some 25,000 people. At least 20 people were hospitalized, two with serious injuries, they said.
“The center of Petrinja as it used to be no longer exists,” Croatria's state HRT television reported, saying people remained inside collapsed buildings.
“My town has been completely destroyed. We have dead children,” Petrinja Mayor Darinko Dumbovic said in a statement broadcast by HRT TV. “This is like Hiroshima - half of the city no longer exists.”
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and other government ministers arrived in Petrinja after the earthquake.
“The biggest part of central Petrinja is in a red zone, which means that most of the buildings are not usable," Plenkovic said.
He said the army has 500 places ready in barracks to house people, while others will be accommodated in nearby hotels and other places.
“No one must stay out in the cold tonight,” the prime minister said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter that she spoke with Plenkovic and instructed an envoy to travel to Croatia as soon as possible.
As a Mediterranean country, Croatia is prone to earthquakes, but not big ones. The last strong quake struck in the 1990s when the...