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Once rescuers have checked even the most distant towns, the final death toll will be known, Zinic said. Seven people were killed in Tuesday’s earthquake and, according to the Interior Ministry, at least 26 people were injured, six of them seriously. The government declared January 2 a national day of mourning. In addition, the equivalent of 16 million euros was made available for the first aid need.
Photographs of the affected areas, which are already among the poorest areas in the country, showed enormous damage. Many houses have been razed, in other places the roofs have been badly repaired. The destruction is compared to the war in Croatia (1991-1995), many people have lost their homes for the second time after the war. There was no water supply in and around Glina on Wednesday, and parts of Petrinja remained without power due to damaged pipes.
“This is not a disaster, this is a cataclysm,” a resident of the village of Majske Poljane told the “Index” news portal in front of his badly damaged house. He also spent the night in the car. Her 90-year-old mother, who was in the home during the earthquake, stayed at Glina’s emergency shelter. In the town, which is among the most affected, five people died in the rubble.
TOPSHOT – People help clear debris next to damaged buildings in Petrinja, about 50 km from Zagreb, after the city was hit by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake on December 29, 2020. – The shaking, one of the strongest to hit Croatia In recent years, roofs collapsed in Petrinja, home to some 20,000 people, leaving the streets littered with bricks and other debris. Rescue teams and the army were deployed to search for the trapped residents, as a girl was reported to have died. (Photo by Damir SENCAR / AFP) Photo: DAMIR SENCAR (AFP)
According to the media, around 500 people in Petrinja, whose houses were destroyed, spent the night in emergency shelters, many of them in the barracks there. Others stayed with relatives, but part of the population stayed at home. They spent the night outdoors or in their cars. Also in Sisak, most of the residents were left with their damaged houses; about 130 used the emergency shelters that were built in the sports halls of the schools there. More than 300 hospital patients and nursing home residents were evacuated from Sisak and Petrinja to Zagreb.
Aid for the affected area came from all over Croatia and abroad. Numerous volunteers came to help. The authorities have asked them to stop going to Petrinja and Sisak. “Despite their good intentions, the crowd makes it difficult for the emergency services to work,” the Interior Ministry tweeted. In remote villages, people were happy with the volunteers helping with the cleanup work. A group of young people with shovels told N1 that they had agreed with local authorities where they could help.
Austria helps Croatia
After the difficult earthquake in Croatia, Austria offered to help. In a joint action by the Ministry of the Interior, the Armed Forces and the fire brigades of Styria and Lower Austria, 80 heated sleeping containers for 640 people will be transported to Croatia tonight. These containers from the Ministry of the Interior, which were acquired in the context of dealing with the refugee crisis in 2015, are stored and serviced in the Federal Army barracks. The Styrian and Lower Austrian fire brigades now support this container transport to Croatia quickly and without bureaucracy.
