The earthquake that hit Banja Luka last night was in the same seismic zone as the devastating one from 1969. Due to such circumstances, seismologists can assume that there will be more earthquakes in the coming period, but of course it is not possible to predict when and how strong.
Last night’s earthquake was 3.8 on the Richter scale, with the epicenter zone in Čardačani, in the municipality of Laktasi.
An earthquake of this intensity generally cannot cause major damage to buildings, but citizens can feel it, which they themselves confirmed in their testimonies on the website of the European Mediterranean Seismological Center.
Snjezana Cvijic Amulic from the Department of Observatory Seismology at the Republic Hydrometeorological Institute of the Republika Srpska said that last night’s earthquake showed once again that this seismogenic zone is active and that earthquakes can be expected in the future.
“We assume that it will not be as strong as the one in 1969,” Cvijić Amulić told Srpskainfo.com.
Banja Luka belongs to the same wider seismological area as Petrinja in Croatia, which was destroyed by a strong earthquake in December last year.
One of the strongest earthquakes remembered in this area was in Banja Luka, in 1969, when 15 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured. It was of magnitude 6 on the Richter scale and greatly devastated the city, Klix.ba writes.
