(CNN) -
Croatia was rocked by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake, Croatian government-owned news agency HINA reported on Tuesday.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) says the earthquake struck Croatia at 12:20 pm local time (6:20 ET).
The epicenter of the earthquake was located 44 kilometers southeast of the country's capital, Zagreb, the EMSC added.
"Such an earthquake can cause significant damage at close epicentral distances," the EMSC tweeted, noting that this is the largest earthquake to hit Croatia so far this year.
According to the HINA agency, Darinko Dumbovic, mayor of Petrinja, a city in central Croatia, has called for immediate emergency help, saying that "half the city has been destroyed."
From CNN's Arnaud Siad and Nada Bashir in London
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