Broken Heart – The Zagreb Earthquake

On 22 March 2020, on a freezing Sunday morning that began with snowfall after Zagreb had enjoyed several weeks of warm spring weather, disaster struck. The city was hit by an earthquake of a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale. And its old structures crumbled.  The damage to buildings was severe, with 6,197 buildings reported to have sustained damage, and 1,900 of those now considered unusable.  How long it will take to rebuild Zagreb is anyone’s guess. Estimates range from two years to ten years or more. It is estimated that the cost of repairs (using the World Bank’s methodology) will be 42 billion HRK or 11.5 billion EUR, a staggering 10% of Croatia’s BDP. A complete restoration of the city would cost 17 billion EUR. 

These are photos I took, and continue to take, of Zagreb in the aftermath of the earthquake.  

(Taken from an article written by Karin Svadlenak-Gomez, which you can read in its entirety here).