Strong quakes have struck Croatia’s capital Zagreb leaving at least one person in critical condition and damaging buildings downtown, including the city’s main historic cathedral.

A 15-year-old child is in critical condition after Zagreb was hit by a 5.3-magnitude earthquake, which was followed by a 5.1-magnitude tremor 40 minutes later. The epicenters of the two quakes were located 8km (five miles) and 7km (4.3 miles) from the city, respectively.

Health officials had reported that the child had died before later retracting their comments.

Snažan potres pogodio je Zagreb u nedjelju ujutro. Šteta je velika. Popucale su zgrade, zgnječeni su automobili, a u videu pogledajte oštećenje na tornju Katedrale https://t.co/iUc9mt0PJCpic.twitter.com/xVGNF0xhla — TV N1 Zagreb (@N1infoZG) March 22, 2020

Officials urged people to leave their homes for safety reasons but instructed them to keep social distancing amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Local media reported that residents heard sirens go off, and buildings were damaged in downtown Zagreb, including the iconic Zagreb Cathedral – one of the towers of which has partially collapsed.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the earthquakes at 5.4 and 4.6 magnitude, saying they both struck near Kasina, a village on Zagreb’s northern outskirts.

Zagreb hit by 5.3 magnitude earthquake ~30 minutes ago just as full lockdown started. Now everyone’s outside grouped in front of their buildings. This won’t help. pic.twitter.com/QPzAIqUSkM — Filip Radelic (@fichek) March 22, 2020

Zagreb’s head of emergency services, Pavle Kalinic, urged people to leave their homes. “Get out of the houses and help your older neighbors,” he said.

The Interior Ministry asked people who had fled their homes to maintain a “necessary distance” to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 disease, and to wear face masks if possible.

Like this Corona is not enough, strong earthquake in Zagreb this morning. Seems all people are ok, some buildings are damaged, top of Zagreb cathedral went down! pic.twitter.com/s1oNnqVIK7 — Herman 🇭🇷 (@Herman_Cro) March 22, 2020

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