Second earthquake in two days hits Croatia

Croatia was hit by the second earthquake in two days on Tuesday, with reports of damage to buildings and at least one casualty.

Tuesday’s quake measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, an order of magnitude larger than the trembler on Monday, which damaged buildings in the capital Zagreb.

Local news service N1 reported that the mayor of Petrinja, a town near the epicenter of Tuesday’s quake, said a 12-year-old child had been killed. Fuller information on casualties was not immediately available.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković tweeted that Tuesday’s earthquake had been felt across the country and said he was on the way to Petrinja, where buildings had already been damaged on Monday.

“All available services” have been mobilized, Plenković said. “The most important thing now is to save human lives.”

News footage showed the moment the quake struck at 12:19 CET, shaking the N1 news studio and the Croatian parliament.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she had spoken with the Croatian leader and offered EU support.

A spokesperson for the Krsko nuclear power plant said the facility was shut down as a preventative measure. Slovenia’s Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec tweeted that the plant had been “safely stopped.”

Stephen Hicks, an earthquake seismologist at Imperial College London, said there was “quite a low probability” that the two quakes would be followed by an even larger one. But Croatia could expect “many more smaller earthquakes (aftershocks)” in the coming days, he said.