ZAGREB, 10 January, 2021 - In a humanitarian campaign organised by the Breznicki Hum Municipality with the help of a Slovenian volunteer firefighters association, PGD Paloma Sladki Vrh,  and Austrian OBR fire brigade, 24 trucks and vans on Saturday delivered aid for people in the quake-hit areas of Sisak, Petrinja and Glina.

The convoy entered Croatia on Saturday morning at the Dubrava Krizovljanska border crossing.

According to the press release, the convoy, accompanied by police, delivered large quantities of construction materials, construction tools, beams, planks and slats, generators and heaters, textiles, pillows, blankets, field beds, food, water and numerous other necessities for the many inhabitants of the quake-hit area.

Upon arrival at the storage terminal of a company called NIL-Z in Petrinja, they were welcomed by Petrinja Mayor Darinko Dumbovic, who thanked them for collecting and delivering valuable help.

The secretary of the Slovenian firefighters association, Valentina Oslovnik, its commander, Robert Oslovnik, and the commander of Austrian OBR fire brigade, Johannes Matzhold, expressed their satisfaction with participating in the campaign.

The head of Breznicki Hum Municipality, Zoran Hegedic, thanked the participants of the campaign and firefighter from Breznicki Hum, Slovenia and Austria.

Hegedic also thanked the Croatian customs for the excellent cooperation during the arrival of the convoy, Croatian police for accompanying them and all those who helped in any way.

January 5, 2021 – The Croatian Geological Survey issued a statement on the recent earthquakes in Petrinja, Sisak, Glina, and the surrounding areas. To their knowledge, the activation of two mutually vertical fault systems caused the earthquakes.

Here is the entire press release of the Croatian Geological Survey (HGI).

The active tectonics of the entire area of Croatia, including the wider epicentral area of Pokupsko-Petrinja-Sisak, is caused by the continuous movement of the Adriatic lithospheric microplate (Adria) to the north. Therefore, in the upper parts of the Earth's crust, great strains occur at the contact of the Dinarides and the Pannonian Basin. When the strain reaches a critical level, individual faults from that system are (re)activated. There is a sudden movement of kilometers blocks of crust with dimensions of several hundred to thousands of cubic kilometers. As a result, a massive amount of energy is released, and earthquakes occur.

According to preliminary geological analyzes of Croatian Geological Survey's scientists and experts, based on geological maps, numerous field data published in the media, field prospecting, available seismological, and preliminary satellite data, the earthquake that hit Petrinja and its surroundings on December 28, 2020, activated the fault system in the underground of the broader area of Sisak, Petrinja, and Glina. (photo below)

Geological map of the Petrinja and Sisak area with highlighted main faults from activated fault systems that caused earthquakes on 28 and 29 December 2020. / Croatian Geological Survey

It is evident that it is the intersection of longitudinal and transverse faults on the extension of the Dinarides. Both fault systems consist of multiple faults with horizontal wing movement (strike-slip). One is the lesser-known fault, which on this occasion is marked as the left Petrinja fault, and the other is the better-known right Pokupsko fault. Such a fault system is a textbook example of deformations that occur in rock due to compression stress along the north-south axis.

Both fault systems are shown on the Basic Geological Map of the Republic of Croatia 1: 100,000, page Sisak, prepared by the Institute of Geology HGI (Pikija, 1987), and on the overview geological map of the Republic of Croatia 1: 300,000 (HGI, 2009). All geological maps covering the territory of the Republic of Croatia are available on request on the Croatian Geological Survey's website.

Due to a large amount of released energy during the movement of fault wings, ruptures in the rocks were manifested on the surface of the terrain, so in the wider epicentral area along fault lines, we find various surface manifestations of this movement and vibration of the terrain: open cracks and paraclasses, fluid spills, sand volcanoes due to liquefaction in the Kupa and Sava river basins, deformations of the surface of the terrain and infrastructural line facilities, and numerous other, hitherto unusual phenomena for our area, which can also cause various subsequent geohazard events. Part of the deformation of the terrain between Petrinja and Glina is probably due to the collapse of the underground corridors of the brown coal mines that operated in the first half of the 20th century and were not adequately rehabilitated (buried).

More data and details on the activated fault system will be available upon completing field research by the Croatian Geological Survey's teams.

Dr. sc. Tvrtko Korbar, scientific advisor of the Croatian Geological Survey

For more on the Petrinja earthquake and to see how you can donate money, food, humanitarian, sanitary and material aid, follow our dedicated section.

ZAGREB, 4 January, 2021 - A tremor measuring 3.3 on the Richter scale shook the town of Glina on Monday evening.

The tremor, registered at 1929 hours Monday with the epicentre 11 kilometres east of Glina, had the IV intensity on the EMS scale, Croatia's Seismological Survey stated.

This is one in a series of aftershocks that have been felt in Sisak-Moslavina County since the 29 December devastating 6.2-magnutude quake. On 28 December, the area was hit by a quake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale.

ZAGREB, 4 January, 2021 - Physical Planning and Construction Minister Darko Horvat said on Monday some houses destroyed in last week's earthquake would be permanently replaced with prefabricated homes, and that those responsible for the collapse of houses built after the 1990s war would be held to account.

Asked by the press if the reconstruction of Sisak-Moslavina County would be incorporated into the law on the post-earthquake reconstruction of Zagreb, Horvat said a decree to that effect was being finalised and that the government would address it on Thursday.

The decree will make it possible for the Zagreb reconstruction law to apply to Karlovac and Sisak-Moslavina counties, and also to submit applications and define decisions on those entitled to reconstruction without losing any time, he added.

"Most importantly, it will enable regulating the payment of temporary accommodation for those who will be entitled to it."

Asked when the reconstruction of houses would begin, Horvat said some documents were commissioned today, including data on how buildings react during an earthquake.

He announced for tomorrow a meeting with Croatian manufacturers who could participate in making prefab homes as a lasting solution in the area struck by a magnitude 6.2 tremor last Tuesday.

Experts from the faculties of civil engineering, geodesy and architecture have to make a project so that replacement homes can be commissioned, Horvat said, adding that regardless of dimensions, all must have the same earthquake-resistant foundation.

He said everything must be ready as soon as possible for construction to begin, adding that part of his ministry would be relocated to Sisak or Petrinja.

Horvat said the decree the government would adopt on Thursday would make it possible to include Sisak-Moslavina and Karlovac counties in the contracting of works for the reconstruction of schools, hospitals and other public buildings.

Asked to comment on the dissatisfaction of the mayors of Petrinja and Sisak with the distribution of HRK 120 million worth of emergency aid, he said the money was allocated after the first damage estimates.

He said almost 700 structural engineers were currently on the ground and that the next amounts would be distributed based on more detailed damage estimates.

Horvat dismissed "any suspicion" that the damage was estimated "with partisan or political connotations. "The damage was estimated on the ground by the only people who can do it."

As for assistance from international institutions and the EU, he said applications for money from the European Solidarity Fund should be prepared in the next 12 weeks, after the total damage was estimated.

In the meantime, he added, the government has managed to communicate that the 5.1 billion received after the Zagreb quake may be utilised to deal with the damage in Sisak-Moslavina County.

Investigations into poorly rebuilt houses

Asked if anyone would be held to account for the fact that the earthquake demolished houses in Sisak-Moslavina County which were rebuilt after the war, Horvat said there would be investigations after talks were held with all those responsible from that time.

He said the central state office for reconstruction had reliable data and that it was pointless to accuse anyone "until we are 100% sure of what happened and who the stakeholders were."

January 4, 2021 – No better technology or camera in the world could detect people under the rubble than search dogs. In the recent earthquake that hit Petrinja, Croatian search dogs found two people alive and thus saved their lives.

The earthquake that hit Petrinja, Sisak, Glina, and the surrounding area on December 29, 2020, caused enormous material damage that is still being added up. Along with 14 teams of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service (HGSS), search dogs also searched for the missing in the ruins. Unfortunately, seven people lost their lives in the quake's rubble, but, thanks to search dogs, two were found alive.

Deputy Head of the Service and head of search teams Neven Putar Neno told Jutarnji list that there are no such mechanical means or cameras that could detect a person under the rubble as quickly as dogs.

"When it comes to saving human lives in such catastrophic conditions, the dog is the most important resource because it can detect a person under the rubble the fastest. We have an awful lot of actions, several times a week throughout the year, where dogs find people, live and, unfortunately, dead," said Putar.

He also points out what all rescuers say – a successful search is not the result of any individual or individual dog's work, but the entire team. Along with HGSS and firefighters, members of KOSPP, the Zagreb club for training search dogs, were also on the field.

Dog barking already tells if a person is alive or dead

Stjepan Gal, a ranger in the Nature Park Papuk and HGSS member, arrived with his dog at the quake-hit area at 4 p.m. As he says, the scenes they saw were unreal. Gal and his dog Adi were in the village of Žažina, where the local church collapsed.

At the time of the quake, parishioners who had come to clear up the damage caused by the less devastating earthquake the day before were in the church. When it shook at 12.20, most of them managed to escape from the building, but one person did not. Beneath the ruins remained a trapped organist who was cleaning his instrument, the organ. Unfortunately, by the time Gal arrived, it was already clear that he was unfortunately dead, and the dog Adi confirmed this with his barking at 6:46 p.m.

Search dog Adi / Photo: Stjepan Gal Facebook

Namely, as Gal says, when a person is found alive, Adi barks happily, and when a person is dead, he is upset and sad and has a specific bark, akin to a  growl.

In addition to HGSS members, alpinists and speleologists from Split and firefighters were also at the location. They had to flee the church several times because the ground was shaking all the time, and there was a danger that the rest of the church would collapse on them.

From asylum to HGSS rescue team

The HGSS team from Karlovac, led by Dubravko Butala, also recently arrived in Petrinja. Kruno Stipetić from Ogulin entered the Petrinja City Hall with his dog Draco, where it was suspected that one person was buried under the rubble. Draco signaled that there was a living person inside. Already by the frequency of his barking, Stipetić knows how to recognize whether a person is alive or dead.

Draco is a Belgian Shepherd, seven and a half years old. They wanted to put him to sleep, but Stipetić believed in him, and the dog eventually found and rescued the woman trapped in the rubble.

"When I got him from the asylum, he was aggressive, and everyone said I would fail, but I believed in him. He knows it, and now he's giving me back all the effort. Today, the two of us are called to about 80 percent of Croatia's search operations because we are a perfectly coordinated team. We think and work as one person," says Stipetić.

Search dog Draco / Photo: Kruno Stipetić Facebook

Stipetić also says that search teams have a great responsibility. They are the ones who, after inspecting the ruins, establish that there is no one inside and suspend the further search.

"There is no room for error because human lives are at stake," says Stipetić.

'Saving human lives is our biggest motivation'

Dubravko Butala Bana, an HGSS member with forty years of experience, arrived in Majske Poljane, where the scenes were horrific – the village disappeared in a matter of seconds. His dog Thor first discovered two dead people under the rubble of a house.

According to Butala, unlike some other search dogs, his Toho does not bark differently when he smells a living or dead person. "But he feels my vibe, feels when I'm sad or upset," Butala says.

Dubravko and his search dog Thor / Screenshot HRT

While they were at the first house with the victims, they were informed that there were missing people in another ruin. They hurried there.

"Grandparents were under the ruins. Grandpa was sadly dead, but grandma was alive. As we dug her up, we talked to her, and we checked her pulse. We managed to get her out, and that's our biggest reward. That's why we do this job. Us HGSS members are volunteers, and the saved human life is our biggest motivation," says Butala, who tells us that a dog can smell one human molecule under all those ruins.

Crying comes later

Zoran Laslavić is a firefighter from Opatija who set off to Petrinja immediately after the earthquake, along with his search dog Rain and with a team of firefighters from the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County.

"The search with dogs is just one part of the job we do. The dog is always with me and, if the need arises, that is, when there is a suspicion that we have a missing person, then we go in search, and we do all the other work all the time. Although, as firefighters, we see everything, we have never seen anything like this before," says Laslavić on the situation in Petrinja.

Firefighters Zoran Laslavić (left) and Zoran Ravnić (right) with their dogs / Photo: Zoran Laslavić Facebook

Firefighters are relatively new to working with dogs, compared to HGSS. Laslavić was the initiator of introducing search dogs into firefighters' work in the search for the missing. Today, the service of teams with search dogs has been established, and there are more and more of them all over Croatia. Laslavić is an instructor and leads the training of these dogs in Šapjane.

His wife is also a firefighter and has a search dog, but she did not go to Petrinja. They got a baby a year ago, and their dog Rain adores it.

The search and rescue for missing people was a very emotional experience for all those involved, and they also comforted and helped those who survived. As they work and save lives, rescuers don't think about all that tragedy around them. Emotions come only later when they come home and relax. Then they often cry.

For more on the Petrinja earthquake and to see how you can donate money, food, humanitarian, sanitary and material aid, follow our dedicated section.

ZAGREB, 4 January, 2021 - It is estimated that the earthquake insurance premium at the end of 2020 will total around HRK 110 million, up 28% on the year, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) said on Monday.

The devastating earthquakes which hit Croatia last year have caused over HRK 100 billion worth of damage and many people have lost their properties, so it is not surprising that after the tremor which struck Zagreb and its environs in March there was an increase in earthquake insurance, the HGK said, adding that the tremors which struck Sisak-Moslavina County last week will certainly further raise people's awareness of the need for earthquake insurance.

It is estimated that the number of insurance policies by the end of last year will have risen to 140,000, up 30% from 2019, the HGK said, adding that the average earthquake insurance premium was HRK 800.

The HGK said that although the property insurance premium was rising, it amounted to €48 per capita, far below the EU average of €168.

The big disproportion of investing in property insurance in Croatia is especially worrying considering that besides Greece, Turkey, North Macedonia and Italy, Croatia is in tectonically the riskiest part of Europe, the HGK said.

After the March 2020 earthquake, insurance companies paid HRK 237.5 million and processed 7,269 damages claims by the end of November, the HGK said, adding that the Zagreb quake showed that an extremely low percentage of apartment buildings had earthquake insurance.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

ZAGREB, 4 January, 2021 - Sisak-Moslavina County head Ivo Zinic said on Sunday that the state of disaster should definitely be declared following the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the county on December 29.

"The county head can only declare a state of emergency following natural disasters based on assessments by the towns and communities affected. I believe this earthquake was much more destructive and that the state of disaster should be declared," Zinic told the N1 broadcaster.

The December 29 earthquake claimed seven lives and caused extensive material damage in the areas of Petrinja and Sisak in Sisak-Moslavina County.

Zinic noted that the insufficient quantity of container homes and camper vans was the main problem at present.

"We have received 13,272 requests and inspected 3,972 facilities. There are around 250 camper vans in the field and the needs are much greater. We expect 1,500 mobile homes to be necessary. Their installation will take ten more days because we can install 20-50 mobile homes per day," he said.

The HAC motorway operator said on Sunday that it would not be collecting the road toll on the Zagreb-Sisak motorway until January 31.

HAC stopped collecting the road toll on December 29 to enable emergency services to reach the quake-hit communities in Sisak-Moslavina County, deciding initially not to collect it until January 4.

ZAGREB, 3 January, 2021 - Of the 19 cities and municipalities in Sisak-Moslavina County, Petrinja, Glina, Sisak and Lekenik suffered the biggest damage, and Donji Kukuzari, Sunja, Hrvatska Kostajnica, Majur, Dvor, Topusko, Gvozd and Marinska Ves sustained extensive damage in the 29 December quake.

The county prefect Ivo Zinic explained on Sunday that so far, the damage was reported on 8,928 buildings and structures.

Of them, 20% are buildings completely destroyed or out of use anymore. Also, a quarter of the inspected buildings will need additional checks, and 54% of buildings checked by experts received a green label, which means that they can be used.

Reports on damaged buildings are still being received and the number of destroyed and damaged buildings will definitely rise, the prefect said at a news conference.

We have set up five mobile teams that are visiting settlements and villages to establish a state of affairs and see what the population needs, he added.

"A difficult situation is ahead of us, people are depressed, we will also organise psychological assistance," Zinic said.

825 small businesses, a third of family-run farms suffer damage by quake

Of 2,000 small businesses in the county, 825 have reported extensive damage, he said.

Furthermore, 700 companies and 3,000 out of 9,000 family-run farms have also sustained damage, he said.

When it comes to educational institutions, out of the 13 secondary schools in the county, six are unusable, and a preschool institution in Petrinja was destroyed.

Retirement homes in the area were also evacuated.

All healthcare institutions are providing services, although some of them are now placed in containers.

On 29 December, the earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, that hit the area of Petrinja, some 50 kilometres south of Zagreb, killed seven people in the county, and a number of people were injured.

"The intensity of this destructive earthquake has been estimated at VII-IX degrees on the EMS scale. The quake was felt across the country. Large-scale damage is expected," the Croatian Seismology Service said on its Twitter profile immediately after the quake.

ZAGREB, 3 January, 2021 - An earthquake measuring 2.7 on the Richter scale shook Zagreb at 0919 hours Sunday, the Croatian Seismological Survey said on Sunday morning.

The epicentre of the quake was in the northern residential area of Remete, and the intensity in the epicentre was III-IV degrees on the EMS scale.

Residents in the city and its environs felt the tremor.

January 3, 2021 – Just two days after a devastating earthquake hit Croatia, five Croatian musicians showed their big hearts and released a song of support titled "Svi smo uz vas" (We are all with you), dedicated to all earthquake victims, to whom the copyright proceeds will be donated.

The quake that hit the Croatian towns of Petrinja, Sisak, Glina, and surrounding villages on Tuesday, encouraged many volunteers to help, but also some musicians. Desiring to give their contribution with a song, musicians Ivan Zak, Tiho Orlić, Mario Budiščak, Tomislav Priher, and Denis Ferjanić quickly gathered and recorded a song with the symbolic title Svi smo uz vas "(We are all with you).

"It is not enough to say that 2020 was challenging. We were alternately beaten by illness, earthquake, crisis, and this week's earthquakes in Petrinja, Sisak, Glina, and the surrounding area rounded off the unfortunate summary. They wrapped us in black, but also encouraged unity, kindness, and humanity," Ivan Zak told Večernji list.

However, in addition to their support being expressed through music, all copyright proceeds will go to earthquake victims.

"Along with material help, us musicians give our contribution to a song. I wrote this song to try to convey strength and optimism to people in such horrible moments of life. I sang it together with my colleagues Tiho Orlić, Mario Budiščak, Tomislav Priher, Denis Ferjanić," says Zak.

Domagoj Marijan signs the arrangement of the song, and Hit Records released it. Apart from Ivan Zak, other Croatian musicians have recently joined humanitarian and volunteer actions, helping in the field. Many others also appealed for help on their social networks. Singer Lana Jurčević even created a Facebook support group because, as she says, she received hundreds and hundreds of requests to publish information for help.

For more on the Petrinja earthquake and to see how you can donate money, food, humanitarian, sanitary, and material aid, follow TCN's dedicated section.