A 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck in Croatia on Tuesday as the jitters were felt in neighbouring countries including Slovenia and Austria, AFP reported.

The earthquake caused significant damage in central Croatia, with buildings collapsing near the town of Petrinja where rescue teams raced to comb through the rubble.

The tremor, which struck at a depth of 10 kilometres at around 1130 GMT according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), was also felt strongly some 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the epicentre in the capital Zagreb, where panicked residents raced onto the streets, according to an AFP reporter.

The spokesperson of Slovenia’s Krsko power plant confirmed that the authorities have decided to shut down the plant as a precautionary measure. Krsko is Slovenia’s sole nuclear power plant and lies about 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of the capital Ljubljana. Co-owned by Slovenia and Croatia, the 700-megawatt Westinghouse reactor was built in the former Yugoslavia and went into service in 1983.

Highlighting the importance of the plant, AFP reported that it provides for approximately 20% of Slovenia’s electricity while fulfilling 15% of Croatia’s electricity needs. Environmental campaigners have previously called for it to be shut down because of its age and the risks of seismic activity in the region but the plant remained working. The Krsko plant was originally due to be switched off in 2023, but Ljubljana and Zagreb decided in 2015 to extend its lifetime by another 20 years.

“I can confirm the preventive shutdown,” spokeswoman Ida Novak Jerele told AFP.

Images of the town, which is home to around 20,000, showed collapsed roofs and streets strewn with bricks and other debris. The earthquake comes one day after a smaller earthquake struck Petrinja, causing some damage to buildings.

“We are pulling people from cars, we don’t know if we have dead or injured,” the mayor of Petrinja Darinko Dumbovic told regional broadcaster N1.”There is general panic, people are looking for their loved ones,” he added.