The quake shook the Balkans at 12:20 pm local time (6:20 am ET), and its epicenter was located 44 kilometers southeast of the capital Zagreb, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC).
The EMSC said it was the largest earthquake to hit Croatia so far this year, adding that it could “cause significant damage at close epicenter distances”.
Darinko Dumbović, the mayor of the central Croatian town of Petrinja, called for emergency help immediately, saying “half of the city was destroyed,” HINA reported.
Photos of the city showed the collapsed roof of a building and a car crushed by fallen debris.
Dumbović described scenes of “panic” following the tremor during an interview with Croatian affiliate CNN N1. “There is panic, people are looking for their loved ones,” he said.
“We take people out of cars, we don’t know if people died or were injured. I heard that a kindergarten collapsed, but, fortunately, there were no children there, while in another the children were able to escape, ”the mayor added.
The Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, posted a tweet saying that he is on his way to Petrinja.
“We have mobilized all available services to help people and eliminate all broken parts,” the prime minister said.