Sisak-Moslavina earthquake: relief operations from Istria
Observation
On 15 January, we drove approximately 100 kg of collected dry food to Rene Pronk in the disaster area. The Facebook volunteer group ‘vanuit_istrie’ had collected 75% of the food. Upon arrival — a three-hour drive through winter landscapes — we unloaded, received a tour of the photo gallery and made initial preparations for a visit to isolated elderly people in the area.
Context
The earthquake struck the Sisak-Moslavina region with a magnitude that caused the entire area to subside by 30 centimetres. A gap of kilometres formed through the epicentre. Aftershocks of 2.5 to 4 on the Richter scale followed daily. Parts of buildings continued to collapse.
On 1 January, I joined a convoy of caravans and relief supplies. We saw streets that had not yet appeared in local news. Bulldozers and cranes were clearing streets and removing the last remnants of walls and roofs on the verge of collapse. Everyone knew it was not over.
Reading
What stood out was the gap between media attention in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany — virtually absent — and the reality on the ground. After eight days, villages were reached where people sat in collapsed houses thinking the end of the world had arrived. No electricity, no water, and roads impassable due to cracks and subsidence.
The region is poor. Many residents bake their own bread, live on legumes from their own garden and slaughter a chicken once a week. The meat industry (Gavrilović) is the best-known employer, but the population lives off the land. This is not the Croatia that tourists know.
Notes
Relief efforts partly stalled in logistics. A truck with 10 tons of food from Germany reached a warehouse in Zagreb but never made it to the disaster area. That is why we took matters into our own hands. Groups from Urk (€4,000 collected), Belgium (two trucks), and Hellevoetsluis (fully loaded car) did the same. Villa Selo Mekisi made its house available for overnight stays.
The Red Cross branch in Poreč was surprised by the scale: sixteen pallets on the first day, ten pallets at the Rovinj depot on the second day — simply because there was no more space.