ZAGREB, 6 February, 2021 - The project of constructing Petrinja's container settlement is going on better than expected, and 142 containers have been delivered to the quake-hit area in the last three days, the spokesman for the task force dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December earthquake said on Saturday.

The spokesman Mladen Pavić told Hina that of those latest 142 containers, 80 were distributed to the city of Petrinja.

So far 1,262 containers have been set up in Sisak-Moslavina County, he said, pointing out a satisfactory pace of the implementation of the project of the container settlement in Petrinja.

That settlement has already 46 housing containers and 81 containers will have been installed until Thursday.

Pavić said that the project envisaged a total of 117 containers, with some of them being used as prefab houses and some for businesses.

On Friday, the Caritas Croatia humanitarian organisation signed an agreement with the Donji Kraljevec-based Tehnix company on the provision of another 100 housing containers for quake victims, the IKA Catholic news agency reported. 

The delivery of the first 100 modular housing containers which Caritas Croatia bought from the Tehnix company for the people of the Banovina region, who lost their homes in the 29 December earthquake, started immediately after the disaster.

The spokesman Pavić told Hina also that experts and professors would continue analysing sinkholes and the terrain in Mečenčani.

The further recommendations and instructions for the local population will be based on the findings and opinions of those experts, he explained.

Local cattle farmers will be given grants to cope with the current situation.

Aftershocks which keep rocking the Petrinja area are causing new damage, mainly sinkholes, and since they are close to family homes, some people could be evacuated to safe locations.

For more news and the latest information on the earthquakes in Petrinja and Sisak, follow the dedicated TCN section. 

ZAGREB, 4 February 2021 - An earthquake measuring 3.0 on the Richter scale jolted Sisak-Moslavina County on Thursday morning, Croatia's Seismological Survey reported on Thursday.

The latest tremor in a series of aftershocks that followed after the 29 December 6.2 strong earthquake, was registered at 5.59 a.m. with its epicentre about four kilometres southwest of Petrinja.

The latest quake had the Level IV intensity on the EMS scale.

ZAGREB, 4 February 2021 - In one month since a devastating earthquake struck Sisak-Moslavina County, the City of Glina has received just under HRK 3.4 million in donations for earthquake relief.

The local authorities opened a bank account specifically for earthquake relief and every ten days they report on how much has been received.

The majority of the donations or HRK 2.2 million was deposited in the first ten days after the 29 December quake and a further HRK 545,000 was paid in the period from 11 to 20 January and another HRK 616,000 from 21 to 31 January.

The Glina authorities have not released information about donors, however, they have noted that these funds do not include money the city received from the allocations the government approved for Sisak-Moslavina County to be paid from budget reserves.

ZAGREB, 4 February 2021 - A total of 34,056 reports about properties damaged by the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Sisak-Moslavina County on 29 December, have been submitted, and of them, 23,513 have been examined, show the updated ArcGIS data.

A total of 279 are unfit for use due to the danger of adjacent buildings collapsing, while a further 2,857 are unusable due to damage caused by the quake.

Following a detailed examination, 2,395 buildings have been declared as temporarily not fit for use while 2,835 buildings that are temporarily unusable require urgent intervention.

A total of 576 buildings were left unscathed while 5,393 have been declared fit for use without any restrictions because they sustained no or only minor damage.

However, 9,178 buildings have been declared fit for use on the condition instructions given are complied with and recommended repair work is carried out, Sisak-Moslavina County reported on Thursday.

ZAGREB, 3 February 2021 - The Turkish construction company Cengiz İnşaat Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Şirketi, which has an affiliate in Zagreb, has donated €250,000 for earthquake-affected areas of central Croatia.

Cengiz İnşaat is working on the reconstruction of the existing railway track and building a second track on the route from Križevci to Koprivnica to the Hungarian border.

The company expressed its support to the government and relevant authorities in rebuilding the affected areas and assisting local residents.

ZAGREB, 3 February 2021 - The World Bank's Country Manager for Croatia and Slovenia, Elisabetta Capannelli, on Wednesday visited the city of Sisak to get an insight into the extent of the damage caused by the 29 December 6.2-strong earthquake.

During her visit, Capannelli expressed condolences on the deaths caused by the disaster and said she sympathised with local quake victims who also suffered an economic loss due to the quake.

We are here to see the state of affairs in Sisak. The World Bank has been authorised by the Croatian government to prepare a rapid damage estimate, including the estimate of what should be done, and this technical document is being drawn up to serve as the basis for an application for funds from the World Bank. We are working on the project that includes public buildings and schools, the WB official said.

Last week, the WB Director for Croatia and Slovenia visited Petrinja where she held a working meeting with Construction Minister Darko Horvat, who said that the World Bank would be the government's consultant for the second application for funding from the European Solidarity Fund for the reconstruction of the earthquake-hit parts of Sisak-Moslavina as well as Zagreb and Karlovac counties.

World Bank experts are expected to finalise the job of estimating the damage caused by the quake so that Croatia can apply for funding from this Fund before the deadline on 23 March.

During her stay in Sisak, Capannelli visited a local factory for the production of PVC windows and doors. The owner Tomislav Čubela informed the delegation about the company's business plan and of the difficulties local entrepreneurs were faced with.

He said that he was aware that in the wake of the disaster, the company would operate at a loss, and expressed hope that the government would help him. Čubela said that he had already informed the Economy Ministry of his intention and efforts to resume production in the factory in Sisak.

Sisak Mayor Kristina Ikić Baniček also informed the WB official of efforts being taken to bring life back to normal after the devastating earthquake.

ZAGREB, 2 February, 2021 - The aftershocks which keep rocking the Petrinja area are causing new damage, mainly sinkholes, and since they are close to family homes, some people could be evacuated to safe locations. There are now more than 70 sinkholes in Petrinja and surrounding area.

The head of the task force dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December earthquake, Tomo Medved, told Croatian Radio on Tuesday that the number of sinkholes in Kukuruzari Municipality had increased from 40 last week to more than 70.

He said that due to the opening of sinkholes, the task force was given certain recommendations from the Zagreb Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering based on which the task force would today adopt conclusions to evaluate the situation and possibly evacuate the people in danger.

Medved said many of the sinkholes were in the immediate vicinity of family homes and that experts were monitoring and analysing their expansion on a daily basis. "But this is now a really big number, large expansion, and we are faced with the challenge of finding a solution... so that the lives of the people living here are not in any danger."

Medved said filling up the sinkholes would have to wait because the ground was still shaking.

He went on to say that factory chimneys in Sisak which, due to the damage sustained in the tremors, posed a security threat, would be removed by authorised companies.

Medved underlined the importance of amending the law on post-earthquake reconstruction "so that we can deal with the damage even more intensively," because the Civil Protection Act was currently being applied in the areas affected by the 29 December quake.

He announced that housing containers would be set up in the settlement in Petrinja on Wednesday and said container housing settlements were being built in Sisak, Glina and Majur. "Works are under way on several locations so that... people can live in the immediate vicinity of their homes which were damaged in the earthquake."

For the latest from the Petrinja earthquake, follow the dedicated TCN section. 

ZAGREB, 2 February 2021 - Croatia's Seismological Survey said on Tuesday that a magnitude 3.2 earthquake was registered at 2.43 a.m. with the epicentre 7 km south of Petrinja.

The area was struck by a magnitude 6.2 tremor on 29 December which killed seven people and caused enormous damage.

ZAGREB, 30 January, 2021 - The head of the task force dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December earthquake, Tomo Medved, said on Saturday that the second phase of the clear-up process had begun - removing the buildings that were so damaged in the earthquake that they presented danger to human lives and health as well as to adjacent buildings.

The first buildings condemned were the old army barracks and the old department store in Petrinja. Medved said that such buildings had to be removed to clear the ground for new buildings and because they posed a risk in the event of a new earthquake.

The members of the task force also visited a site in Petrinja where a container settlement was being built. About a hundred containers would be used for housing and as many for businesses, while 5 containers would serve as sanitary facilities.

The first containers are arriving next week and all the containers will be set up by mid-February, spokesman for the task force Mladen Pavić said.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković also arrived in Petrinja to give support to the task force and thank everyone for helping with the relief effort.

He said that the beginning of the removal of damaged buildings would speed up the pace of the reconstruction process. He added that it was good that 1,025 mobile homes had been set up in the area and that 1,061 accommodation facilities were connected to power supply.

Plenković announced that Transport Minister Oleg Butković, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić and Deputy Prime Ministers Tomo Medved and Boris Milošević would meet with representatives of the state-owned HAC motorway operator on Monday to discuss completion of the motorway between Lekenik and Sisak.

"We think this project must now be given a priority because a better road connection is crucial for the long-term revitalisation and economic recovery of Sisak-Moslavina County," the prime minister said.

January 29, 2021 - As a global and socially responsible company that actively participates in the local community's life, to help the earthquake-affected areas, Samsung Electronics Adriatic donated 150,000 kunas to the Croatian Red Cross.

Due to the strong earthquake that hit Banovina at the end of 2020, including the towns of Petrinja, Sisak, and Glina and the surrounding area, many lost their homes and property. A month after the 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Sisak-Moslavina County, donations do not stop coming from all sides. Samsung Electronics Adriatic also decided to make a contribution and, together with its employees, made a financial donation to the Croatian Red Cross to help earthquake-affected areas.

Samsung responded to the Red Cross's appeal with this donation to help the residents of the affected areas, to provide them with the necessary assistance and decent living conditions.

"As an international company that actively participates in the daily life of the local community, Samsung has decided to donate 150,000 kunas to the Croatian Red Cross, which is currently working on collecting humanitarian aid, so that all affected citizens get the help they need. An additional contribution to this donation was provided by the company's employees, who donated their own funds. At Samsung Electronics Adriatic, we think globally and act locally," said the newly elected President of Samsung Electronics Adriatic Hyoung Min. Park.

Samsung Electronics Adriatic operates in eight countries in the region. These include Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, and Northern Macedonia. It sets new standards in the world of televisions, smartphones, wearables, tablets, digital home devices, network systems, as well as solutions in the areas of memory, LSI systems, and LED devices.

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