Earthquake shakes Zenica.

Fallen debris in Zenica's main strip.
(Source: ZenicaBlog / Jasmin Hadzic)

Early this morning in Zenica, around 1.15am local time, I finally experienced my first earthquake on this earth in twenty years.

Boy, did it scare the crap out of me.

As I said to others this morning, you can only imagine the stupid thoughts running through your head when your Bosnian apartment block begins rumbling and shaking. In the end, I was somewhat thankful it was 'just' an earthquake.

Official reports state that the tremor measured 4.7 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre seven kilometres east of Zenica, striking 2 kilometres underneath the earth's surface. It is believed to be the strongest of its kind in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the last 38 years.

The quake lasted all of ten seconds, and was followed by three aftershocks in the hours afterwards. It was said to be felt as far west as Banja Luka, as well as in the east in Serbia.

Locals stand on the street after evacuating
their buildings. (Source: ZenicaBlog / Jasmin Hadzic)

There were reports of only minor damage to infrastructure, with the main occurrence seeming to be several bricks collapsing from the roof and walls of a small building in Zenica's main street.

Thousands of people across the city evacuated their buildings as a precautionary measure.

That included me, who, I believe, was the first one to make it outside of our 12-story apartment block. (Gee, all I wanted was a quick bite before bed when, all of a sudden, the earth begins to shake!)

In all truth, I wasn't going to take my chances!

Some people did not reveal themselves from the building for dozens of minutes, while others didn't budge from their apartment at all! Crazy Bosnians...

Very surreal stuff, but I'm alive, as is everyone here.