PHOTOS: Clocks stopped, power failed and roads were blocked. The day after the disaster, the Croatian town looked apocalyptic

At exactly 10:45 p.m., time appeared to stop in Ston. The hands of the clock in the old town hall froze at the moment a magnitude-6 earthquake struck the Dubrovnik region on Sept. 5, 1996.

The quake shook 19 settlements along the coast. People also felt it in Herzegovina and across Italy, as far as Turin. Ston and Slano bore the deepest scars, while the epicenter lay beneath the sea near Ston. The next day, Večernji List reported, Ston looked apocalyptic.

Almost every house in Ston’s old quarter and nearby villages carried earthquake damage. The Church of St. Blaise lost its bell tower, and the municipal building and diocese were also damaged. In Mravinci, the Church of Our Lady was completely destroyed. Podgora, Lisca, Podimoć and Topolovo also suffered serious damage.

“The earthquake was stronger than those in 1927 and 1963,” Ston’s mayor at the time, Darko Dražeta, told reporters. The entire affected area lost power, while landslides made the main coastal road impassable. Drivers used rural roads at their own risk, and Croatian Army units cleared routes toward Slano and worked in Mravinci and Čepikuće.

Despite the extensive damage, there were no fatalities. Continuing tremors forced residents into the streets and their cars. On Sept. 17, Ston and its surroundings were hit by another earthquake of equal strength. Around 200 more earthquakes followed over the next three weeks, and the area continued shaking for more than two years, with several thousand aftershocks recorded. Seismologist Marijan Herak said the Dinarides are Croatia’s most earthquake-prone region.

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The earthquake was stronger than those in 1927 and 1963.