December 30, 2022 - Two years ago, the devastating Banovina earthquake struck the Sisak-Moslavina area of Central Croatia. How well has the state done in tackling the consequences? Horrifically poorly, according to many...

The SECOND anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Banija came with the dissatisfaction of the victims, but also of the participants in the reconstruction, which Prime Minister Andrej Plenković called "unbelievably slow," writes Index. Though we briefly covered the complex topic in A Week in Croatian Politics, read along for a more detailed overview.

Two years ago, on Tuesday, December 29, at 12:19 p.m., the area around Petrinja was hit by a devastating earthquake of magnitude 6.2, followed by a series of other earthquakes. The earthquake took the lives of seven people, leaving behind sad scenes of destroyed houses, commercial facilities, and public buildings in Petrinja, Sisak, Glina, and surrounding towns.

Many citizens from all over Croatia came to the aid of the residents who lost their homes in an instant on the same day, collecting and donating food, preparing meals, and clearing the ruins...

Citizens themselves brought food and other necessities in their cars, numerous volunteers and groups of younger people with shovels were seen in the earthquake-affected area helping the local population clear the terrain.

Two years later, the consequences of the earthquake are still apparent in many unrenovated houses in numerous villages and in Glina and Petrinja, where the reconstruction of the city centre has not started, but scaffolding and work on the first of 26 buildings are expected early next year.

In the area of Glina, 700 containers have been placed in which people from houses with red and yellow stickers (poor state of the buildings) are still waiting for structural renovation or replacement houses. Among them are people who do not have their own properties, so they are waiting for some other suitable accommodation.

In the Petrinja area, which has lost 5,000 residents since the last census, many people live in container settlements and containers next to their houses. Currently, about 1,600 of them are in the entire city and 212 in three container settlements.

The residents of the destroyed homes are dissatisfied because most of them are still waiting in containers to return to the renovated houses. The completion of the renovation of the houses is not yet in sight, though, as there are still many bureaucratic windmills left to fight. The government members are dissatisfied because the planned structural renovation of houses and the construction of replacement houses and residential buildings has not gained the expected momentum, despite the amendments to the Law on Reconstruction from October 2021, in which great hopes were placed.

Plenković's recent statement that the reconstruction of Banija "is going unbelievably slowly" fueled speculations about the resignation of Minister Paladina, who took up his post in March after the resignation of former Minister Darko Horvat. However, Paladina claimed that the "unbeleivably slow reconstruction" statement did not apply to him and was misinterpreted. The statement refers, he clarified, to the fact that the structural renovation of houses and buildings and the construction of replacement houses are not progressing at a sufficiently high-quality pace, which he has been saying for months.

"Only when we start renovating 100 houses a month we can be satisfied. I've been saying this for more than three, four months. The Prime Minister's statement refers to that part of the renovation that must be accelerated," he said.

Number of houses built in two years - 6

Only a few were lucky enough to return to their homes because, so far, the state has secured that all of six replacement houses are built in the entire county. Another 109 are currently under construction, while 16 multi-apartment buildings are under construction as part of the competitiveness and cohesion operational program.

Not a single building was renovated in the organised structural renovation, and the Central State Office, responsible for that county, completed the public tender procedure for 50 structural renovations.

According to statements from the area, most buildings were renovated thanks to donations. For example, in the area of Glina, 45 buildings were bought or built from donations, while the state has so far built six houses in the entire county, of which only one is in the area of Glina.

In the Zagreb area, which was hit by an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale on Sunday, March 22, 2020, at 6:24, 25 structural renovations are underway, while 14 structural and 2227 non-structural renovations have been completed.

The renovation of public buildings is going better. From the Solidarity Fund, which is open until June 30 next year for the reconstruction of public buildings, 10 percent of the amount was realised in March, and now that share has risen to 40 percent.

Claims were submitted for compensation in the amount of HRK 2.6 billion.

New measures tackling numerous obstacles

Obstacles in the renovation of houses are numerous, from complicated "paperwork" and the application process to the lack of labour, rising prices of construction materials, and property-legal relations.

At the end of July, the Ministry adopted a new Program of Measures for the Reconstruction of Earthquake-Damaged Buildings, which improved the model of financial assistance, i.e., self-renovation, according to which the property owner who opts for the self-renovation model assumes the choice of the contractor and supervision. It also allows the owner to ensure the creation of the architectural design.

The most significant measure is the payment of advances to users who cannot provide their own funds. For example, for the first phase of self-renovation, an advance payment for the costs of creating a project for structural self-renovation of houses, as well as an advance for the execution of works worth 25 percent of the financial aid, is possible, while for buildings, the payment of the entire amount of financial assistance is possible.

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ZAGREB, 30 Oct, 2021 - The European Commission has decided to award €319 million in grants to Croatia to help it repair damage caused by the 29 December 2020 earthquake in the central region of Banovina.

The EC said on Friday that it had adopted a decision to award Croatia grants from the EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF) based on the country's application for the compensation of funds used to repair damage caused by the 29 December earthquake, the Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

The EC decision is a draft that will be forwarded to the European Parliament and Council of the EU for further proceedings and the payment will be made once those proceedings are completed.

The ministry recalls that in August 2021 Croatia received a part of an advance in the amount of €41.325 million and under the EC's draft decision, the total amount of grants for damage repair is €319,192,359.

Also, Croatia has so far received €683.7 million in grants to repair damage caused by the 22 March 2020 earthquake in Zagreb. The total amount of grants for earthquake damage repair to be obtained from the EUSF is more than a billion euros, the ministry said.

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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, 19 March, 2021 - Damage done to listed buildings and monuments in the quake-hit Sisak-Moslavina County has been estimated at €400 million, while the total damage done to cultural heritage in all the quake-hit areas of Croatia is put at €640 million.

These figures were presented on Friday after Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek met the task force for dealing with quake aftermath in Sisak-Moslavina County for the talks on registering the damage to cultural heritage.

Obuljen Koržinek informed the task force of the next steps to be taken including urgent measures for the protection and preparation of documentation for the reconstruction of individual listed buildings and monuments.

Reconstruction will be such that it will preserve all the features of the area, however, (listed) buildings will also be renovated to be quake-resistant and energy efficient, the minister said.

Yesterday, we estimated the damage to cultural heritage at €640 million, with just over €400 million in Sisak-Moslavina County and just over €200 million in the nine other affected counties. As far as listed buildings in Petrinja alone are concerned, the damage done to them is estimated at more than €100 million, said Minister Obuljen Koržinek.

For more about earthquakes in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.