A strong earthquake yesterday shook Croatia and its capital, causing widespread damage and panic.
A 15-year-old was reported in critical condition and others were injured, news outlets reported.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said the earthquake measured 5.3 and struck a wide area north of Zagreb at 6:23am.
Photo: AP
The epicenter was 7km north of Zagreb at a depth of 10km.
Many buildings in Zagreb cracked and walls and rooftops were damaged. Downtown streets were littered with debris. Concrete slabs fell on cars and chimneys landed in front of entrances.
Photographs from the scene show mothers dressed in nightgowns hugging their newborn babies in a parking lot as they evacuated a maternity hospital amid freezing temperatures.
Zagreb’s iconic cathedral was also damaged with the top of one of its two spires collapsing. The cathedral was rebuilt after it toppled in the 1880 earthquake.
Power was cut as people ran out of their homes. Several fires were also reported. At least two other tremors were recorded later.
Officials first said a 15-year-old girl was killed, but doctors later said that she is in critical condition and that they are fighting for her life. They gave no immediate details on the extent of other injuries.
Residents shared photographs of belongings falling off shelves, broken bottles and glass inside homes.
The earthquake struck amid a partial lockdown of the capital because of the spread of COVID-19. People were told to avoid public areas, such as parks and public squares, but had no choice as they ran out of their apartments.
Up to five people keeping distance are allowed to be together.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said earthquake was the biggest in Zagreb in the last 140 years. He urged the citizens to remain calm and stay outside their homes in the central parts of Zagreb, which sustained the most damage.
“We have two parallel crisis that contradict each other,” Plenkovic said after an emergency meeting of Croatia’s top officials.
Croatia’s army and all emergency services would start clearing the streets as soon as possible, while assessment will start of the damage at the same time.
“We will try to clear the streets as soon as possible,” Plenkovic said. “Stay outside your homes and keep distance.”
Croatian Minister of the Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said the situation was complicated by the restrictive virus-related measures.
“There are rules for when there is an earthquake, but when there is an earthquake at the same time when there is a global pandemic, then it’s a much more complex situation,” Bozinovic told the state HINA news agency.
Meanwhile, Slovenia’s only nuclear power plant, Krsko, which is jointly owned with Croatia, has not been affected by the quake, but authorities said it had started inspecting systems and equipment as a normal preventive action.
“The nuclear power plant continues to operate at full power,” Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration Director Igor Sirc said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in