ZAGREB, July 25, 2020 - Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic has pledged aid to residents in repairing the property damage caused by a severe storm that hit the capital on Friday evening, when nearly 100 litres of rain per square metre fell in 10 hours, leaving many properties flooded. 

"The damage will be compensated for, but what cannot be compensated for is a human life. I regret to say that one young life was lost," Bandic told a press conference on Saturday. He announced that he would visit the family of a 53-year-old voluntary firefighter who died in the line of duty, on Sunday.

The mayor thanked the emergency services for a prompt response. He reassured the residents by saying that the damage would be assessed and that they would be assisted in repairing the damage.

Asked to comment on the fact that he has been the mayor for 20 years and that every time a heavy rain occurs residents see scenes like these, Bandic said that he and his team have done more about the municipal water supply and drainage infrastructure than all the mayors of Zagreb in the last 100 years combined.

Reporters also asked the head of the Department for Emergency Management, Pavle Kalinic, whether the water drainage system could have been damaged by the March 22 earthquake, to which he said that this was yet to be looked into and assessed.

Chief fire officer Javor Lozar said that the city's public fire brigade and about 50 voluntary firefighter associations had carried out over 250 response operations between 9.30 pm on Friday and 11 am on Saturday, involving 180 firefighters. They were engaged in pumping out the water from residential buildings and underground car parks and rescuing people from vehicles and basement flats. Lozar said that there had also been a fire in two flats that were promptly brought under control and no major damage was done.

ZAGREB, June 16, 2020 - The leader of the Labour and Solidarity Party, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic, on Tuesday, presented the party's slates to the State Electoral Commission (DIP) for the July 5 parliamentary election, saying that after the election he was prepared to cooperate "with everyone who has Croatia at heart."

"I am prepared to cooperate with everyone who has Croatia at heart and a better life for our citizens. Just as we cooperated with this government - on projects and not seats - we will cooperate with the new government," Bandic said, adding that his party was offering a European Zagreb and a European Croatia.

Bandic added that citizens were interested in the results of work on employment, demography, and education. He said that his work until now would go in his favour at the election.

The Labour and Solidarity Party presented slates for six electoral constituencies - first, second, sixth, seventh, third, and ninth. Bandic announced that he would present them to the public on Thursday.

ZAGREB, May 24, 2020 - The political platforms and parties led by activists Tomislav Tomasevic and Sandra Bencic on Sunday reiterated their accusations against Mayor Milan Bandic and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) for failure to take decisive steps in the post-quake rebuilding of the city.

"We believe that the political passiveness of the HDZ and of Mayor Milan Bandic will cause a political quake in the next parliamentary elections," said Tomasevic, who together with another five activists held a news conference in front of Government House, on Sunday morning.

Tomasevic held a grudge against Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic for failing to initiate an international donor conference for the post-quake reconstruction of the capital city, and in this context he mentioned that for instance, Albania organised such conference for raising a billion euros, two months after its devastating quake in 2019. Northwestern Albania was struck by a strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake on 26 November.

Zagreb and its environs were hit by a 5.5-strong quake on 22 March.