Earthquake in Croatia Kills 5

Five people, including a 12-year-old girl, died after a magnitude-6.4 earthquake swept through central Croatia Tuesday, destroying several buildings, injuring at least 20 people and causing tremors in neighboring countries, according to officials.
 
The epicenter of the quake, Petrinja, a town of about 25,000 people, sustained the worst damage. On Monday it was hit by a 5.2 quake. Tuesday’s quake saw people run out onto rubble-covered streets for safety.
 
“The biggest part of central Petrinja is in a red zone, which means that most of the buildings are not usable,” Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said when he and other government ministers arrived in Petrinja after the earthquake.
 
State television reports four people were killed In Glina. The prime minister confirmed the fifth casualty was a young girl in Petrinja.
 
The army has been dispatched to the area to help rescue people from the rubble. At least two people are seriously injured. Rescue operations also are underway in Sisak, a neighboring town.
 
Some injured people have been treated for “fractures, concussions and some have had to be operated on,” said Tomislav Fabijanic, head of emergency medical services in Sisak.
 
Plenkovic said people will have to be moved from Petrinja “because it was unsafe” to be here.”
 
The government says it also has made arrangements for people displaced by the quake to find accommodations. The Croatian army is providing about 500 places for victims, while others will be housed in hotels and other habitable places, according to the government.
 
Twelve countries including Serbia, Slovenia, Austria and Bosnia also felt tremors, according to Hina, Croatia’s news agency.
 
Buildings shook for a couple of minutes in the city of Graz and the Carinthia province in Austria. Local news media report residents said their furniture and furnishings shook for several minutes.
 
In Slovenia, the STA news agency reports authorities shut down its nuclear power plant as a precautionary measure.
 
Croatia’s Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said the country has sought help from the European Union and is awaiting assistance.
 
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter she spoke with Plenkovic and instructed an envoy to travel to Croatia as soon as possible.
 
Earthquakes are not uncommon in Croatia, but ones as strong as this have not been felt since the 1990s, when the village of Ston was destroyed.    
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