ZAGREB, 19 April, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday that a programme to revitalise Sisak-Moslavina County would enable its demographic revival, economic development, social inclusion and better transport connectivity, and he also supported a project to revive local spa tourism.

Plenković was visiting Topusko, a town in Sisak-Moslavina County, where he attended a meeting of the task force dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December earthquake in the county.

He said that at the meeting a project was presented to build a smart spa town to help Topusko become of the centres of medical tourism in the country.

Plenković said that by reforming the financing of local and regional government units the government had secured an additional HRK 150 million in revenue for those units and that so far two billion kuna worth of EU-funded projects had been agreed.

He recalled that the government had granted around HRK 200 million in job-keeping support for more than 15,000 local workers.

"The government wants, and its expert team has already made a draft programme for the revitalisation of Sisak-Moslavina County, to ensure an integral approach that will enable both demographic revitalisation and economic development, social inclusion and better transport connectivity," he said, noting that the county was burdened by problems related to economic transition, socialist legacy, consequences of the 1990s Homeland War and most recently, the pandemic and earthquakes.

He said today's meeting also discussed a project for an expressway between Popovača and Ogulin to better connect Slavonia with the region of Lika and Karlovac County and help in the development of Sisak-Moslavina County.

The head of the task force dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December 2020 earthquake in Sisak-Moslavina County, War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved, said that so far more than 4,000 requests for emergency repairs on earthquake-damaged properties had been submitted and that as of 1 May the reconstruction of nonstructural elements of the buildings would start so that conditions could be created until summer to make it possible for close to 20,000 families to return home.

Topusko Mayor Ivica Kuzmić said that he was happy about the project to restore Topusko's status of a continental tourism centre.

The project "Topusko - A smart spa town", worth HRK 600 million, envisages the renovation of existing spa facilities and reconstruction of facilities and infrastructure damaged in the 1990s war, and the construction of new spa facilities.

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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.

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