ZAGREB, Dec 31, 2020 - Deputy Prime Minister Boris Milosevic from the ranks of the Independent Democratic Serb Party on Thursday said that the first thing to be done is to secure containers and tents for temporary accommodation, for reconstruction to commence immediately and that those affected by the earthquake are relieved of paying contributions.

"The first task is to ensure containers, tents and temporary accommodation and then to quickly start with reconstruction," said Milosevic, who arrived in Petrinja and visited the town and houses affected by Tuesday's earthquake.

He said that account would be taken so that citizens affected by the earthquake are relieved of any contributions. "Everything will be taken into account. Everyone wants to be fully engaged to help citizens and make it easier for them. We will try and help citizens as much as possible and relieve them of any obligations to ensure that they have a dignified home," said Milosevic.

The thing that the government will advocate is to embark on reconstruction with as little red tape as possible, he added.

He said that the state was doing all it can, all services have been deployed as well as the entire administration. The social welfare ministry will send mobile teams to villages that Milosevic visited on Wednesday.

Milosevic said that he had spoken with the president of the Serb National Council, Milorad Pupovac, who informed him that SNV had ensured ten containers via Bosnia and Herzegovina's Republika Srpska entity and its President Zeljka Cvijanovic that would arrive in Croatia today as well as a lorry full of building material.

State and citizens reacted immediately

"The situation is difficult. There are a lot of problems. Villages are dispersed. However, aid is organised and is arriving to all those villages. Maximum effort is being invested to provide the minimum help at least and then everything else," he underscored.

Responding to a comment by a reporter that it seems everything is occurring due to the enthusiasm of citizens and that the state should have a systematic solution, Milosevic claimed that the state reacted immediately and so did citizens.

"The Prime Minister and President immediately went to Petrinja. A cabinet meeting was convened and interventionary funds were allocated. We will monitor the situation. The state did everything it could do," he underlined.

Asked whether he was bothered with Pupovac's statement that a girl who was killed in the earthquake was from a mixed marriage, Milosevic said that neither he nor anyone he knows separated victims based on ethnicity.

"As far as I know, he (Pupovac) was replying to a question by a reporter from Tanjug, who asked whether any of the casualties were of Serb ethnicity. Had an earthquake occurred in Vojvodina, reporters there would certainly have asked if there were any ethnic Croat casualties. That was exclusively in that context. There was no intention to divide the victims," said Milosevic.

ZAGREB, Dec 31, 2020 - A Greek Air Force plane arrived in Zagreb late on Wednesday carrying humanitarian aid for the earthquake-affected areas in central Croatia, the Croatian Ministry of Defence said on Thursday.

The shipment included 40 tents, 50 electric heaters, 500 folding beds and 500 sleeping bags.

The plane was welcomed by Zdravko Jakop, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence; Antonia Katzourou, Greek Ambassador; Terezija Gras, State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior; and Brigadier General Michael Krizanec, Commander of the Croatian Air Force.

Jakop thanked the Greek ambassador for her country's generous assistance "in these unpredictable and challenging times".

Katzourou said that the relief shipment was just a small token of solidarity with the people struck by the disaster. She expressed hope that it would help and provide at least some comfort to people in the affected areas.

Greece's aid shipment came as part of a response from EU member states after Croatia activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism on December 29 requesting emergency aid in the form of equipment such as winter tents, torches, electric heaters, folding beds, sleeping bags and residential containers.

Thirteen EU countries and Turkey responded to Croatia's call. Aid was offered by Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden.

December 31, 2020 – Health Minister Vili Beroš commented on the record blood donations collected in Petrova Hospital in Zagreb yesterday and coronavirus vaccine doses sent to the quake-affected area.

As N1 reports, in front of the Dubrava Hospital, where some COVID positive patients arrived from the earthquake-affected area, Health Minister Vili Beroš commented on patients' situation after the earthquake.

Record blood doses after 1995

"This morning, I received information from the Croatian Institute for Transfusion Medicine that yesterday, a record number of blood doses was collected in Zagreb's Petrova Hospital, over 750 doses. The last time we had a similar turnout was August 5, 1995, the beginning of the Storm war operation. This shows the consciousness of the Croatian people," said Beroš.

"From a health point of view, this is a challenge. We want to provide health care to everyone. Given that most health facilities have been severely damaged, I believe we will respond adequately. As much as 90 percent of the Sisak hospital is out of order, so we have to adjust the health system and provide health care to the entire surrounding area," said Beroš.

He pointed out that many health centers are out of order. He also revealed that the Health Ministry sends about a thousand doses of vaccine to the affected area.

'Virus is still here'

"On Saturday, a team of epidemiologists from the Croatian Institute for Public Health will vaccinate all people who are in collective accommodation, emergency workers, and emergency services who are in the area and who will be there for three weeks, including all members of civil protection. Plans exist to adapt to the situation. Epidemiologists will estimate the situation and see how many vaccines are still needed. We are sending more than 1000 doses," said Beroš.

The Minister pointed out that there are enough reserves of protective equipment. He also said that the problem of drug delivery would be solved. Rapid antigen tests are being conducted among nursing home users in the area to find out if there are infections in collective accommodation.

"After the earthquake, Minister Aladrović contacted me. They enabled the accommodation for nursing home users from Petrinja in the Popovača Hospital and other places. There are positive cases among the users, so we are looking for accommodation for them with the county authorities. We still have to stick to measures, masks, distances, disinfection. The virus is still there. These circumstances favor its spread," said Beroš.

The Minister stressed that all health professionals with COVID patients must receive the promised money for the reward.

For more on the Petrinja earthquake, please follow our dedicated section.

ZAGREB, Dec 31, 2020 - The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre near Paris never received more reports from people about an earthquake than on Tuesday regarding a 4.15 p.m. tremor with the epicentre near Petrinja, Vecernji List daily said on Thursday.

In a few minutes, 22,000 people notified the EMSC, although the tremor was a weaker aftershock following the main magnitude 6.2 earthquake which struck shortly afternoon.

The number of reports of the main earthquake certainly would have been higher, but the lines could not withstand so much traffic, said Remy Bossu, seismologist and leader of a nine-member team whose services have been used by many Croats since the March earthquake in Zagreb.

Many will open the EMSC's Last Quake app as soon as they feel the ground shaking, and in less than 15 seconds they will find out if their senses have deceived them or if it was indeed an earthquake, before seismological institutes even read, let alone publish the location and the magnitude.

The EMSC also detects witness reactions on the Internet before seismologists provide traditional data. To prevent panic-mongers from abusing its information, the EMSC communicates with clients and Croats accept its explanations more and more, the newspaper said.

December the 31st, 2020 - On the very last day of what has been an absolutely horrendous year, the funeral of tragic 13-year-old Laura who lost her life during the devastating Petrinja earthquake is set to take place.

Index/Martina Paucek Sljivak sat down and talked to Laura's grieving stepfather Darko Culig, who spoke about what young Laura was like.

"I want people to know what a special girl she was. She was cheerful, happy and she loved singing and dancing more than anything else, she was so generous, she had such a big heart. On December the 22nd, she turned 13 and got some money from her grandparents for her birthday and she spent it on buying us all Christmas presents. She was amazing,'' Laura's severely shaken stepfather says as he begins his story.

"Laura was special"

He tells us how he met Laura when she was eight years old.

"Although at first it was hard for her to get used me as well as her dad's new wife, we later developed a very special relationship, I loved her so much. Laura had a little brother, Filip, on her father's side, who is still a baby. We both had a wonderful relationship, full of love and trust. She would confide in me about something rather than to her biological parents, I was a person she trusted, she would be the first to reveal some things to me, who she liked, and if she did something wrong, she would often say to me: ''Darko, come on, be on my side.''

She loved singing and dancing, we should've sent her to some supertalent show, even as a child she loved to entertain people, do impressions of them, she loved to watch the Dobro jutro komisija series, that was her  favourite series, we always called her little Vidoslava after one of the characters from the series because she had a bun like her. She was always cheerful and smiling. She never wanted for anything, she was extremely modest, generous, she thought of all of us all the time, she went constantly to visit her grandparents to see how they were doing. In the evenings she loved to joke around with me, she played all the time,'' Laura's stepfather described to Index.

We could all hear in the video the painful cries of his wife Snjezana, Laura's mother who found her child dead following the Petrinja earthquake, and there is nothing worse than that...

He and his wife are now sleeping in the car, and he described what happened on the fateful morning of the Petrinja earthquake.

"My wife got an injection right away that day, she's on pills now, this is unimaginably difficult, but she's also incredibly strong. The day it happened, Laura was in town with her grandmother, aunt and cousin. I was in the house and I barely escaped from it, my wife was at work. I couldn't get her on the phone. I went out to my car to get to town somehow and then I noticed my wife, she said to me: Take me to the square, something has happened to Laura. She was called by her ex-husband, Laura's father, who was called to say that Laura had died, you know everything else,'' a traumatised Darko explained.

"We are all together with my in-laws, three families, so it's a little easier for her, we talk all the time about Laura, what she was like, what she loved to do, but today it will be very difficult. "Even though it was said that the funeral should be in the family circle only, I can't tell anyone not to come, whoever wants to, they can come,'' Darko said, added that he must be strong for the sake of his wife, as she needs to lean on him.

The two of them have been sleeping in the car in front of their mother-in-law's house for two days now. So far, he says, they have enough food, and Snjezana's parents' neighbour from the coast has also published Darko's bank account details, to which people can pay their donations should they be in the position to do so.

"She was supposed to come home at noon today."

He confirmed to Index that the account details published were indeed his and that people had already started paying.

"I've heard that some have already started with fake accounts, but the one that was published is ours, the donations are coming, but I wouldn't like them to pay only to us, pay to others, too, please, it's hard for everyone. And when I remember saying to Laura that she'd be coming home today at noon because I'm cooking lunch. She'd been at her dad's for the festive period since December the 26th and she was supposed to come home today, and instead we're seeing her off and bidding her farewell, I still just can't believe it," Darko uttered.

Anyone who wants and can help with donations to Darko's family can make a payment in the name of Darko Culig, HR1524840083235299861. For payments from abroad: BIC: RZBHHR2XXXX.

For more on the Petrinja earthquake, please follow our dedicated section.

December 31, 2020 – Croatian firemen, army, police and medical workers worked through after the earthquake in Sisak Moslavina County on 29 December 2020. We wanted to get a sense of the demand on and the experiences of emergency services, so we spoke with Josip Granić. Head Of Service for HGSS, who was coordinating the efforts of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service in Petrinja

This interview took place in Petrinja, just before 12.30pm on Wednesday 30 December 2020

Right now we have around 120 people here. Last night we sent some home. During the height of the operation, we had 192 members of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service in Petrinja and the surrounding towns and villages. Firefighters and police from all over Croatia came. There are more than 200 army personnel here too.

Because we are part of the operational team of the National Civil Protection, we were already here and involved in the response to the first earthquake. After yesterday's earthquake, I called each HGSS station across Croatia and asked them to prepare at least one vehicle and one team to come and join the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service in Petrinja. The first extra teams to arrive were from this county - Sisak and Novska. They got here around 2pm. Teams from Orebic, Peljesac and Split arrived maybe last, because of the large distance they had to travel. One team came by car, another came by helicopter.

What was the situation like for Croatian Mountain Rescue Service in Petrinja when the wider team first started to arrive after the second day's larger earthquake?

If I said it was chaos, that wouldn't be strong enough a word. The centre of the town was chaos. Everyone was busying themselves with responding – people were moving debris, firefighters were making their way through, ambulances and police moving through, people of the city in the streets helping out. The streets were filled with dust and smoke. You could hear the sounds of floors and roofs and buildings collapsing all around you.

What were the first undertakings for the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service in Petrinja?

Well, our first response was not only in Petrinja – we were immediately in some of the surrounding villages too. The very first thing we did was send in our search teams and the specially trained dogs we work with. We were instructed by locals. They told us which of the collapsed buildings were likely to have people trapped beneath them. We immediately found one person. It was in the town hall. One lady. The entire ceiling had fallen on top of her. Our colleague from Ogulin found her with his dog. The firefighters worked so fast, so hard to dig her out. They were excellent. It took four and a half hours to get her out. She was lucky. Unfortunately, we also found four more people who were already dead.

We saw quite a lot of volunteers. Who is organising them?

There are many different groups. Many local people were the first ones out on the streets, volunteering. Then, those from the immediate area came - four friends in a car, that kind of thing. |NGOs arrived next – veterans, charities and so on. Then, football fans from all over Croatia arrived. Supporters groups had organised coaches to bring themselves here. At first, nobody was organising them and it was a bit of a problem. They organised themselves. But, it was such chaos that some emergency vehicles, including search and rescue teams of Croatian Mountain Rescue Service in Petrinja, could not pass through the town. This is dangerous because, in search and rescue, your ability to respond quickly is vitally important. After dark, things began to run more smoothly. Many worked until 3am or 4am, then they were sent home. The ones who didn't arrive until much later in the night were incorporated into Civil Protection and assigned to work the next day in villages and towns outside Petrinja, where help was needed.

How has the demand on what you do changed since yesterday?

It hasn't changed that much. We have been visiting villages throughout the county as quickly as we can, searching for people who may be trapped. Some of these places have not yet been reached by the other emergency services, but they will get to them. We found another alive person who was trapped today. Since early in the morning we have searched 84 villages.

What advice would you give someone who wants to come here to volunteer?

Organise it first with Civil protection. If it is organised with them, then you know you won't be in the way and you will be going to where help is needed. If it's organised with them first, then come. There's a job for everyone who wants it here.

How different is the demand on emergency services in this earthquake compared to the earthquake in Zagreb in March 2020?

Well, our services were not requested during the Zagreb earthquake and a lot of that is because of the structural integrity of the buildings in Zagreb. Most were strong enough to survive that big earthquake. The ones which were damaged were only partially damaged. Many buildings in Zagreb were hardly damaged at all and so many people in Zagreb were relatively unaffected by that earthquake. Here, everyone is affected.

All images © HGSS

ZAGREB, Dec 31, 2020 - The Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serb Orthodox Church on Wednesday announced they would help those affected by a 6.2 earthquake in Croatia, calling on their members to sympathise with their neighbours in Croatia.

The leader of the Islamic Community, Husein Kavazovic, recalled how much Croatia helped BiH during the 1990s war.

"We can't help but remember the generosity of our Croatian neighbours who, during the aggression on BiH, welcomed and supported us and showed understanding for what we were going through," he said in a letter to Croatian Ambassador to BiH Ivan Sabolic.

"Now that Croatian citizens have been put to a difficult test, we feel the need to offer words of support and consolation for those who have lost their dearest ones or been injured," Kavazovic said.

He added that the Islamic Community had contacted itsMeshihat in Zagreb and announced that it would organise a collection of funds for those in Croatia affected by the tremor.

The Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana has invited all people of good will to join in the humanitarian campaign, the Serb Orthodox Church said, adding that Metropolitan Porfirije wished for solidarity as well as "kindness and love to reach everyone who needs assistance in this difficult moment."

ZAGREB, Dec 31, 2020 - Croatia's Seismological Survey registered a magnitude 3.9 earthquake at 9.15 a.m. on Thursday with the epicentre 10 km west of Petrinja.

The tremor was felt in the wider area, including Zagreb, and there are no reports of damage for now.

The Seismological Survey registered a 3.7 earthquake at 4.43 a.m. today as well with the epicentre near Petrinja which was felt in Zagreb too.

The Petrinja area was struck by 6.2 quake on Tuesday, killing seven and causing enormous damage.

December 31, 2020 - The Croatian Seismological Service published a map of earthquakes in Croatia since the devastating 6.3 quake hit central Croatia on Tuesday, i.e., from December 29, 2020, at 12:19 until 30.12.2020, at 22:00.

Recall that on December 28, 2020, at 6:28 am, there was a strong earthquake with an epicenter near Petrinja (M 5.0) that preceded the devastating earthquake on December 29, 2020, at 12:19, with an epicenter of 5 km southwest of Petrinja (45.4002N, 16.2187E, depth 11.5km), magnitude 6.2 according to Richter (intensity at the epicenter - VIII-IX degrees on the EMS scale).

A large number of subsequent quakes followed this quake.

A map of the epicenter of the earthquake near Petrinja from 29.12.2020, at 12:19 until 30.12.2020, at 22:00 can be seen below.

Kartu preliminarnih epicentara potresa kod Petrinje u razdoblju od 29.12.2020. u 12:19 do 30.12.2020. u 22:00 te statistiku ručno lociranih potresa od 28.12. u 06:28 do 29.12. u 19:00 možete vidjeti na našim stranicama https://t.co/fle6BVOvQ0 pic.twitter.com/CUO6nVC1jg

— Seizmološka služba HR (@seizmo_hr) December 30, 2020

Time distribution of the earthquake from 28.12.2020, at 06:28 to 29.12.2020, at 19:00

Earthquake magnitude from 28.12.2020, at 06:28 to 29.12.2020, at 17:00

Distribution of earthquake magnitudes from 28.12.2020, at 06:28 to 29.12.2020, at 19:00

Croatia was rocked by a strong earthquake on Tuesday afternoon. At 12.19 pm, seismologists recorded a devastating earthquake with an epicenter five kilometers southwest of Petrinja at a depth of 11.5 kilometers. The Richter magnitude of the earthquake was 6.2. 

Many weaker earthquakes followed, and all earthquakes had an epicenter near Petrinja and its surroundings.

From 12.23 to 12.58 on Tuesday, the largest number of subsequent earthquakes occurred, as many as 10 - with Richter magnitudes greater than 3.

At least seven people were killed. That is a number that has been confirmed, and it is not excluded that more victims will be discovered later.

Among the dead are a 12-year-old girl in Petrinja, a 20-year-old boy from one house, a grandfather from another, and a father and son from the same house in Majske Poljane near Glina, Glina Deputy Mayor Branka Bakšić Mitić confirmed. It was later confirmed that another male had died in Majske Poljane.

After a seven-hour search, the body of a man killed under the ruins of a church in Žažina was found.

At least six people were seriously injured, and 20 were slightly injured, the Ministry of the Interior announced.

Source: Index.hr

DECEMBER 31 UPDATE - FOLLOW THE LATEST NEWS HERE

December 31, 2020 - The Croatian media has published various Majske Poljane videos showing the scale of destruction, tragic loss, and a miraculous escape.

I knew that visiting the scene of the Petrinja earthquake was going to be traumatic, but I am glad that I did. Apart from helping me understand the realities on the ground better, I hope the report has been informative for the many people wanting to help Croatia in this time of national tragedy. You can read Majske Poljane, Glina, Petrinja: A Foreigner View of Croatia's Emergency Response here.

Nowhere was more devastated than the first place we visited, Majske Poljane. Without the resources or connections of the mainstream big Croatian media, it was always going to be hard for me to get the full story. Reading through the various accounts and watching videos from my Croatian colleagues has recorded events and human stories in a way that I could not. Here are a selection of Majske Poljane videos from the aftermath, with their YouTube commentary translated below. The most shocking realisation from watching these videos is finding that the first house we visited - with the ten shell-shocked horses - was the house where four people were tragically killed. 

It is cold in Majske Poljane. Clouds hovered over the village, which no longer exists. No one reacts to constant tremors anymore. Silently, with dark circles under their eyes, calm men clean the remnants of their former lives. Five locals were killed. Dario Tomić, the son of the deceased Franjo and the brother of the deceased Marija, raises a photograph of his family from the ruins. The whole house fell on them, there was no salvation for them. Dario folds the photo, the only one left for him after this horror. He has no tears, he is strong, he sticks to the rest of the family, to the mother who survived.

Majske Poljane - The village in the Glina area that suffered the most in the earthquake. Borislav Meandđija came out a second before the earthquake to go to the city to get a credit card. That second was enough to save his life, as the house behind him collapsed to its foundations.

The village of Majske Poljana near Glina that suffered the most in the earthquake. A strong earthquake hit Croatia yesterday, the epicenter of the 6.2 magnitude earthquake was 3 kilometers from Petrinja. The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service and search dogs on the ruins of the house where father and son Tomić were killed yesterday

HINA also recorded its observations.

The nearby town of Petrinja from the air.

Find out how you can donate here.

To follow the latest TCN coverage of the earthquake and its aftermath, follow our dedicated section.