ZAGREB, 23 June 2022- The damage which was spotted at a Croatia Airlines plane after landing at Sarajevo Airport on Wednesday evening, was not caused by shooting, as earlier speculated, but by mechanical damage.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina State Prosecutor's Office stated that based on the preliminary findings of an investigation there were no indications that the damage was caused by shooting from firearms.

There are no traces of gunpowder at the spot where the damage was noticed, and there is no other evidence showing that the damage could have been caused by a gunshot.

The damage has probably been caused by a mechanical impact, the Prosecutor's Office said.

After the Croatia Airlines plane landed in Sarajevo on Wednesday evening, damage was noticed on the fuselage. There was speculation that it could have been caused by a gunshot.

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ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević said on Tuesday that he supported a five-point plan to step up the post-earthquake reconstruction, presented by the new Construction Minister, Ivan Paladina, on 14 April.

"We welcome these five points because they are in substance what we have been advocating since we came to power (in the City of Zagreb)," said the mayor.

Tomašević declined to comment on media reports on the previous career and the declaration of assets of Minister Paladina and on the media questioning if Paladina was a good choice for this position.

"I have never delved into personnel choices," said the mayor.

Commenting on the city authorities' insistence on the reconstruction of private houses and property, Tomašević said he could not see any reason why substitute family houses can be built in the quake-hit Banovina region and not in Zagreb.

Deputy Mayor Luka Korlaet said he wanted to believe that Paladina had the competencies for the ministerial position he now held.

Korlaet said that a bottleneck in the post-quake reconstruction process is partly in the construction ministry and partly in public procurement advertised by the Reconstruction Fund.

Some 70 buildings are undergoing reconstruction which they are are conducting on their own, he added.

Tomašević informed the press that the city authorities had been provided with HRK 7.5 million (€1 million) in grants to set up 1.4 megawatt solar panels on public institutions as support under a Norwegian financial mechanism.

ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - Croatian MP Milorad Pupovac and the director of the Bosnian Serb entity's secretariat for the displaced and migration, Davor Čordaš, on Tuesday signed an agreement on the construction of houses for Serb families whose homes were destroyed in the 2020 earthquake in Croatia's Banovina region.

The agreement is worth HRK 6 million and envisages the construction of ten prefab houses, to be made by the Steco factory in Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The agreement was signed in the Bosnian Serb entity's capital of Banja Luka.

Prior to that, Pupovac held talks with the entity's prime minister, Radovan Višković, telling the press he expected the houses to be delivered by the end of the summer.

ZAGREB, 22 March 2022 - The Croatian Chamber of Architects on Tuesday called for a transparent and implementable reconstruction programme to organise reconstruction according to spatial units and coordinate non-structural reconstruction and seismic retrofitting as well as the construction of new buildings.

The reconstruction of buildings should be a result of plans for the urban renovation of neighbourhoods, which would contribute to the betterment of society and space as a whole, the association, which goes by the acronym HKA, said in a statement on the occasion of the second anniversary of the March 2020 5.5-strong earthquake in Zagreb.

Architects believe that new buildings should be built based on the best architectural designs so that they are in line with spatial planning documentation, architectural conditions and the way of life in individual regions.

The Reconstruction Act should enable project documentation to be made in line with the Construction Act, based on which citizens will claim the right to have their reconstruction costs refunded.

The HKA called for enabling the design of complete building reconstruction, improving basic requirements for buildings, and conducting reconstruction in stages, depending on available funds.

As always, architects will make their expertise available to all stakeholders in the reconstruction process, and they want to be involved so that the processes launched are better, faster and more effective, the chamber said.

We want our living space to be modern, orderly and planned, and our heritage to be improved with new purposes, protected and safe, the architects said, noting that post-earthquake reconstruction should mark the process of a major economic, demographic and urban transformation of the country.

The devastating earthquakes that hit Croatia in the past two years have raised awareness of the poor state of the housing stock and the worrying economic and sociological situation in the parts of the country that have been neglected for decades, the HKA said.

The poor state of buildings, both housing and public, the poor state of infrastructure, low population density, the unsustainable network of settlements and demographic problems are just some of the characteristics of not only rural but urban parts of the country as well, it said.

Unfortunately, two years since the earthquake, we are witnessing an unsatisfactory dynamic of the reconstruction process as well as unsatisfactory quality of reconstruction work in all areas, the architects say.

This is due to a poor legislative framework that focuses exclusively on the seismic retrofitting of buildings instead of on integral solutions for the reconstruction of spatial units and individual buildings, the HKA says.

ZAGREB, 22 March 2022 - Two years ago an earthquake damaged more than 900 properties in Krapina-Zagorje County however, to this day, not one house has been restored and County Prefect Željko Kolar (Social Democratic Party, SDP) considers this to be unacceptable and shameful.

In a press release from Prefect Kolar's office, he recalls that on this day two years ago Krapina-Zagorje County was struck by a powerful earthquake damaging more than 900 buildings and the worst hit was the Stubica area with several families being evacuated from their heavily damaged homes.

In several communities, almost all of the houses experienced some damage with county authorities saying that the damage caused amounts to tens of millions of kuna.

According to county authorities, a total of 254 applications have been submitted for retrofitting or to have buildings demolished and rebuilt.

The Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets has issued 43 decisions and interim decisions while Krapina-Zagorje County has received 21 decisions of those 43. A further 133 applications have been received for non-structural restoration.

"Unfortunately, we have to state that to this day, two years later, after two laws on reconstruction and two ministers, not one house in Krapina-Zagorje County has been demolished as yet, much less reconstructed, which is unacceptable and shameful," said Kolar.

ZAGREB, 30 Aug 2021 - Central State Reconstruction and Housing Office state secretary Gordan Hanžek said, after a meeting of the task force dealing with the aftermath of last year's quakes on Monday, that they had agreed on drafting project documentation for 288 houses.

"It is for houses issued a yellow or red label, which are designated for reconstruction. Project documentation for the construction of standard replacement facilities has been contracted. Those are 55-, 70- and 85-square-metre buildings, for two-, three- or four-member and multi-member households. Contracts have been signed and you will be informed about their content," Hanžek said.

He added that two solutions were planned - for rural and urban buildings. According to Hanžek, the project will first be presented to the owners, who will choose between two available types of buildings. Either type can be prefabricated or traditionally constructed, depending on the owners' wishes. Of course, the construction period is shorter for prefabricated buildings, while the deadline will be slightly longer for traditional masonry construction.

"We expect the first contracts for the construction of replacement houses by the end of the year," Hanžek said.

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ZAGREB, 30 Aug 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Sunday visited Požega to discuss with local officials the removal of damage caused by torrential rain and hail in that Slavonian city in June and July, after which he attended a local folklore festival.

"The government has backed right away all counties and cities affected by bad weather, securing funds for the removal of damage," Plenković said ahead of talks with local officials, adding that the talks would also focus on economic development.

The government has allocated HRK 20 million (€2.66 million) for the removal of damage caused by bad weather in the area of Požega. According to preliminary data, torrential rain and hail that hit the area at the end of June and in July have caused damage to family houses, crops and commercial facilities in the amount of HRK 70 million (€9.33 million).

Accompanying Plenković on his visit were Defence Minister Mario Banožić and Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Nataša Tramišak.

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ZAGREB, 27 Aug 2021 - The government has allocated 19.4 million kuna (€2.6 million) for a public works programme for the removal of consequences of the December 2020 quakes in Sisak-Moslavina County, whereby 520 people will be employed.

Labour Minister Josip Aladrović presented the programme in Sisak on Friday, noting that these public works would contribute to the positive trends on the labour market and economic recovery.

"This is one of the measures which the government and the ministry have been implementing since the (December 2020) earthquakes. Apart from this activity, the government has disbursed 300 million kuna to 3,000 employers in this area for grants to 15,000 employees," Aladrović said.

War Veterans' Affairs Minister Tomo Medved, who heads the task force dealing with the aftermath of last year's earthquakes in the Banovina area of central Croatia, said employment in public works would contribute to the economic revitalisation of the area.

The measure is part of a set of measures and programmes the government has been implementing in cooperation with the county and local authorities, he said.

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ZAGREB, 27 Aug 2021 - War Veterans' Affairs Minister Tomo Medved, who heads the task force dealing with the aftermath of last year's earthquakes in Sisak-Moslavina County, said on Friday that priority in the reconstruction process would be given to houses whose owners were now accommodated in prefab containers.

So far, roughly 400 family houses have been rebuilt, next week over 1,500 contracts will be signed with property owners for the reconstruction of their family houses. By 15 September, we will have about 6,000 active contracts on reconstruction, Medved said in Sisak.

He said that priority would be given to the reconstruction of properties whose owners had been relocated to container settlements so that they could move in their rebuilt homes before the winter.

Medved said that the authorities also planned the reconstruction of other damaged structures and construction of a number of apartment buildings in the quake-hit area.

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ZAGREB, 23 July 2021 - First estimates show that the extent of the damage inflicted on Croatia's agricultural sector so far this year by natural disasters is HRK 509.2 million kuna, the agriculture ministry's reps told Hina on Friday.

These estimates are based on preliminary data collected in the Natural Disaster Damage Registry in compliance with the national legislation on mitigation and removal of consequences of natural disasters.

The ministry underscores that the registry does not contain the final data on the reported damage, or the number o businesses and individuals that have been exposed to the disaster.

The ministry notes that 20 million kuna has been set aside in the budget for mitigation and removal of the consequences of natural disasters this year and that farmers can also apply for aid and funding under the schemes envisaged in the Rural Development Programme.

In addition, the government has already decided to help farmers in the hailstorm-hit Požega-Slavonia County with an additional HRK 20 million.

 Agricultural producers whose perennial plantations have been damaged in disasters can apply for aid under the subsection "Renewal of farmland and production potential" within the Rural Development Programme.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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