ZAGREB, 14 January 2021 - Petrinja Mayor Darinko Dumbović said on Thursday that earthquake-hit areas did not need volunteers any more but a functioning system and expert teams to inspect damaged buildings.
"Structural engineers have conducted part of that task and I thank everyone who volunteered. Now we do not need volunteers in that regard but people who will be given that job, who will be paid and who will have set deadlines," said Dumbović after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian visited Petrinja earlier in the morning.
According to Dumbović, so far just over 6,000 of 13,000 buildings have been inspected.
He said that professionals are needed and a system that has to function and for professionals to be paid. "When you pay someone they are bound by a deadline, but if we run late now, then everything will be late."
Dumbović believes that business premises are important because they are "the key to everything that will keep the city alive."
He said that the money the city had received from the state was being spent on elementary needs such as delivering building material to repair chimneys, adding that buildings that could be repaired quickly would have a priority.
