Reports say the tremor was also felt strongly some 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the epicenter in Zagreb, where panicked residents ran into the streets.

A powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake rocked Croatia on Tuesday, the United States Geological Survey and European Mediterranean Seismological Center reported.


The central town of Petrinja was the epicenter. Journalist Dalibor Dobric in Zagreb told DW there were reports of "fatalities."


"Buildings have collapsed, roofs have collapsed. In Zagreb, there are thousands and thousands of people standing in the streets out of fear," he said.

It comes a day after a smaller tremor struck in the same area.


The N1 news channel showed footage of rescuers there pulling out a man and a child from debris. Both were alive.


Other footage showed a house with a roof caved in. The reporter said she did not know if anyone was inside.
There was no further information available on casualties.


"We are pulling people from cars, we don’t know if we have dead or injured," the mayor of Petrinja, Darinko Dumbovic, told the broadcaster.


"There is general panic, people are looking for their loved ones."


Images of the town, which is home to around 20,000, showed collapsed roofs and streets strewn with bricks and other debris.


Tomislav Fabijanic, head of emergency medical service in Sisak near Petrinja, said there were many injured in Petrinja and in Sisak.


"There are fractures, there are concussions and some had to be operated on," he said,
Slovenia's STA news agency said that the country's sole nuclear power plant, which is 100 km from the epicenter, was shut down as a precaution.


Croatia: Powerful earthquake causes huge damage | News | DW | 29.12.2020