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A day after an earthquake killed at least seven people and injured dozens, aftershocks shake a country that is beginning to rebuild.
A series of aftershocks shook central Croatia on Wednesday, a day after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake killed at least seven people, injured dozens and left several towns and villages in ruins.
The strongest quake, magnitude 4.7, struck early Wednesday near the heavily damaged city of Petrinja, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of the Croatian capital, Zagreb.
Many of the 25,000 people of Patrinja had spent the night in tents, their cars or military barracks, without sleeping for fear of aftershocks.
In the nearby village of Majske Poljane, where five people were killed in the earthquake, a boy could be seen sleeping inside a pickup truck on a cold December morning.
The sobbing villagers said they received blankets, food and other help, but they don’t know what they will do next. Overnight rain in the area turned dust from the rubble into mud, adding to the difficulties.
“We cannot say ‘Good morning’, it is not good,” Petrinja Mayor Darinko Dumbovic told Croatian radio. “We had the third and fourth tremors this morning, short but strong. What has not fallen before is now falling from the ruins of Petrinja. “
Dumbovic said his office had been destroyed by the earthquake and that city authorities were struggling to function, adding that aid is coming from across the country and “solutions must be found.”
Rescuers spent the night searching the rubble of badly damaged buildings for possible survivors.
Authorities said a 12-year-old girl died in Petrinja, a city of about 25,000 people. At least 26 people were hospitalized with injuries.
Parts of Petrinja and the nearby town of Sisak were still without power Wednesday morning.
The European Union’s head of crisis management, Janez Lenarcic, was due to visit Petrinja later in the day as the bloc was preparing to send aid.
“At the moment, mainly winter tents, electric heaters, beds and sleeping bags, as well as accommodation containers are needed,” Lenarcic wrote on Twitter.
Tuesday’s earthquake, the strongest in Croatia since the introduction of modern seismic measurement system, was felt across the entire region, including neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovenia.
The central region of Croatia was also hit by a magnitude 5.2 earthquake on Monday and seismologists say several more aftershocks could be expected.
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