A consequence of the 29 December quake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale was also the shifting of the city of Sisak eastward by about 10 centimetres, and Petrinja shifted between 15 and 20 centimetres eastward, the Jutarnji List daily reported on Wednesday.

Mapping prepared on the basis on satellite images provided by the European Space Agency show that the devastating quake caused shifts of soil with the amplitude of up to 70 centimetres.

The biggest shift was registered in the forest area near the settlements of Slana, Glinska Poljana, and Gora, the daily reported.

Sisak has shifted at less intensity than Petrinja, said researcher Marin Govorcin, a professor of the Zagreb-based Faculty of Geodesy.

“Preliminary, Sisak shifted by 10 centimetres and Petrinja between 15 and 20 centimetres,” he said.

A team of researchers is now in the region hit by the quake and they have not yet detected any first-tier effects such as surface ruptures on the fault line.

Seismology expert Josip Stipcevic said that if they find any surface rupture, this could help them to assess where the fault line is and other features of the fault-line.

The earthquake occurred in a fault-line in the direction from northwest to southeast, passing through the Pokuplje region near Petrinja and Glina. That fault-line is between two different tectonic blocks: Dinarides and Pannonian basin.