Sisak-Moslavina earthquake: relief operations from Istria
Observation
On 15 January, we drove about 100 kg of collected dry food to Rene Pronk in the disaster area. The Facebook volunteer group ‘vanuit_istrie’ collected 75% of the food. We arrived after a three-hour drive through winter landscapes. We unloaded and got a tour of the photo gallery. We also started preparing for a visit to isolated elderly people in the area.
Context
The earthquake hit the Sisak-Moslavina region hard. The entire area sank 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 kept collapsing.
On 1 January, I joined a convoy of caravans and relief supplies. We saw streets that hadn’t appeared in local news. Bulldozers and cranes were clearing streets, removing the last remnants of walls and roofs that were about to collapse. Everyone knew it wasn’t over.
Reading
What stood out was the gap between media attention in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, which was almost non-existent, and the reality on the ground. After eight days, villages were reached where people sat in collapsed houses thinking the world had ended. No electricity, no water. Roads impassable because of 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 isn’t the Croatia tourists know.
Notes
Relief efforts got stuck 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’s 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, because there was no more space left.