Death toll climbs from Croatia’s worst earthquake in 140 years

Croatia suffered its worst earthquake in 140 years — for the second time in 2020 — with the tremor killing a minimum of seven individuals, devastating the town at its epicenter and rattling Europeans as distant as Rome and Vienna. Measured at 6.3 by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre on Tuesday, it was extra highly effective than each a 5.2 quake on Monday and a similar-sized tremor that brought on $6 billion in harm when it hit the capital of Zagreb in March.
The earthquake introduced down buildings close to its epicenter within the city of Petrinja, killing seven individuals, deputy Prime Minister Davor Bozinovic instructed state TV. Among the lifeless have been a lady who was about 13 years previous and a father and son.

Most buildings in Petrinja have been broken so badly they’re now unusable, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic mentioned on the scene. Authorities evacuated the hospital within the close by metropolis of Sisak, and the tremor additionally broken constructions in Zagreb, the place individuals left their houses to attend out any potential aftershocks.
“2020 has brought us tragedy after tragedy,” Plenkovic mentioned in feedback on N1 Television. The broadcaster reported a minimum of 20 individuals had been hospitalized with accidents, with two in severe situation.
The catastrophe provides to an already tough 12 months for the Adriatic European Union member state, which remains to be busy repairing the 20,000 buildings broken in the course of the March quake whereas additionally tackling one of many bloc’s worst surges in coronavirus circumstances and a document financial recession.
The U.S. Geological Survey mentioned the temblor was the nation’s strongest because the creation of recent seismic instrumentation, which started to achieve prevalence within the Eighteen Eighties.
It was extra highly effective than one in 1963 that hit close to the previous Yugoslav city of Skopje, now the capital of North Macedonia, that killed greater than 1,000 individuals and destroyed 80% of the town.
“This is horrible,” President Zoran Milanovic mentioned whereas observing the harm in Petrinja. “Pure horror. The army is here, coming to help evacuate people.”
In Petrinja, a metropolis of about 25,000 folks that was nearly destroyed within the bloody 1991-1995 breakup of Yugoslavia, video footage confirmed demolished homes and fallen roofs that resembled the harm from the struggle.

Bozinovic, the deputy premier, mentioned the federal government was lifting a ban on touring between counties imposed earlier this month to cease a spike in new circumstances of Covid-19 so that individuals whose houses have been destroyed might stick with kin.
The quake additionally triggered the automated shutdown of Slovenia’s Krsko nuclear energy plant, with that nation’s infrastructure minister saying preliminary checks confirmed no harm had occurred.
The authorities put aside an preliminary 120 million kuna ($19.4 million) in aid funds, Plenkovic mentioned. Both Hungary and Slovenia mentioned they have been sending help, whereas European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned on Twitter she’d spoken with Plenkovic and was prepared to supply assist.
Janez Lenarcic, the EU’s commissioner for catastrophe aid, will arrive in Croatia on Wednesday, and he mentioned the bloc was sending assist in the present day together with winter tents, electrical heaters, sleeping baggage, and housing containers.