Magnitude 5.4 quake causes damage in Balkans
Magnitude 5.4 earthquake caused structural damage in Montenegro and nearby, reports said Thursday.
Landslides and cracks in the walls of houses occurred overnight on Wednesday, Montenegrin media reported. It was not clear whether any people were injured.
According to the Institute for Hydrometeorology and Seismology in the capital Podgorica, the magnitude 5.4 quake had its epicenter near Carodja, close to Montenegro's border with Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The main quake shook almost the entire Balkan peninsula and was felt as far away as Hungary to the north, according to media reports in Budapest.
Landslides occurred on several motorways in the region around Carodja. Smaller earthquakes have repeatedly occurred throughout the Balkan region in recent months.
Milena Tomanović from Montenegro's Institute for Hydrology and Seismology told reporters that 30 smaller quakes followed the strongest one.
The earthquake was felt as far as Serbia's capital, Belgrade. In the southeastern Bosnian town of Bileca, authorities closed schools as a precaution and were assessing possible damage in the area.
"We have been in the field since early morning. Luckily we recorded no damage so far," Bileca civil protection chief Veselin Vujovic said.
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake in central Croatia in 2020 killed several people and injured scores.
DailySabah