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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
WARRIORS coach, Zdravko “Loga” Logarusic, yesterday said the world was going through unusual times after his home country Croatia was hit by a strong earthquake.

The European nation is also battling a partial coronavirus lockdown.

The new Warriors gaffer, who last week was forced to abandon a 10-day camp with the side, was stunned with news his home country was shattered by a strong earthquake, which affected the capital Zagreb, at the weekend.

The country suffered a 5.3 magnitude tremor that destroyed buildings and cars.

Reports indicated yesterday that there were no fatalities but 17 people were injured.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said the earthquake was the biggest to hit Zagreb in the last 140 years.

Croatia is a country located in Southeast Europe.

It is a small country with population of 4.28 million people, just a quarter of Zimbabwe’s demographic tally.

Loga said it was depressing misfortunes continue to hit that part of Europe as they share a maritime border with Italy, the European country which has been hardest hit by coronavirus.

The two countries are separated by the Adriatic Sea.

“We are a very small country and I am just thinking why are all these things happening to us?

First, we are struggling with the coronavirus which has affected everyone else in the world.

“We have Italy around us who have been hit the most in Europe, and now this (earthquake),” said Loga.

The population had been told to stay indoors under a raft of measures to curb the spread of coronavirus after over 200 cases were confirmed in the country.

But the frightened citizens stormed into the streets after the quake struck early on Sunday morning.

Power was cut as people ran out of their homes.

Images also showed desperate mothers cuddling their babies in freezing temperatures as people didn’t know whether to stay indoors or seek safety outside.

Croatia’s Interior Minister, Davor Bozinovic, told BBC the country was “facing two serious crises, the earthquake and the epidemic.”

And the European Union yesterday declared the situation a state of emergency.

“It was bad,” said Loga.

“Already people are not able to travel from one place to another, you cannot stay outside as the police are deployed everywhere in the streets to make sure that the people stay indoors.

“But, with this earthquake, you would wonder where they ran to? It’s not an easy situation but we are a strong people and I am confident we will overcome the troubles.”

The good news is that Loga and his family were not directly affected.

The home of the Warriors and his family is in the eastern city of Slavonski Brod, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The city is located 197 kilometres southeast of Zagreb.

The epicentre of the quake was 17km to the north of the capital city.

“This is a bad situation but I am a bit relieved because my house is about 200km away from the epicentre of the earthquake.

“My sister told me that the house was “dancing” when the quake struck but there were no damages because of the distance,” said Loga.

The new Warriors coach was last week forced to abandon his maiden camp with the home-based Warriors following a Government directive as part of the measures to combat coronavirus.

Zimbabwe have confirmed two cases of the disease.

Last week, Government declared coronavirus a State of national disaster before a single case was diagnosed.

The Croat was expected to lead the Warriors in back-to-back 2021 AFCON qualifiers against Algeria this coming weekend but the matches have since been postponed.

He was also scheduled to take the home-based Warriors to Cameroon for the CHAN tournament that was set to run from April 4 -25.

The tournament was also postponed indefinitely because of the threat posed by the growing coronavirus pandemic.

“We are currently experiencing an unusual situation. We will have to go through it day by day and try as much as we can to follow Government directives and instructions from the health authorities.

“This is not an easy situation because there were no games taking place. And it’s even a bigger problem in that the league, which was supposed to start this month, has been postponed because of the coronavirus.

“We just hope that things get back to normal soon and we start training again. But, for now, we have to make a plan,” said Loga.