Caritas Croatia charity director Fabijan Svalina and owner of the Tehnix company Djuro Horvat on Friday signed an agreement on the procurement of 100 prefab housing modules for earthquake victims in Sisak-Moslavina County.

During the contract-signing ceremony, the president of the Croatian Caritas organisation Varazdin, Bishop Boze Rados, said that Caritas Croatia in cooperation with Caritas Internationalis, the Order of Malta and Croatian Catholic missions abroad, had ordered 100 containers for the accommodation of people who were left without their homes in the 29 December disaster.

The housing modules, which are being manufactured by Tehnix factories, will be provided to people in distress. The bishop was quoted as saying that the families with more children would be also provided with appropriate accommodation consisting of several connected modules, according to a press release issued on the Caritas website.

The bishop said that it was likely that six containers, that is housing models, could be set up on a daily basis as of Monday. Activists and volunteers of Caritas will also prepare the infrastructure on the ground.

Svalina said that all were aware that the situation in the quake-wrecked area could not be improved overnight and that houses could not so quickly be constructed, and therefore it was necessary to provide quake-affected people with temporary accommodation.

Tehnix owner Horvat said the company and its 500 workers were happy to help quake victims and to participate in this project launched by Caritas.

Prefab modules, produced by this company for the quake victims, are 18 square metres large, they are quake- and fireproof and enable modular connection of two or four units.

Caritas Internationalis said on its web site that it “launches an €880,000 appeal to help Caritas Croatia’s work in ensuring safe and dignified living conditions to people made homeless by a recent earthquake.”

“Caritas’ eight-month project will initially help up to 200 households by providing prefabricated container accommodation and financial and technical help so people can repair their homes,” it says.

“Caritas’ response will focus on helping people in rural areas who risk being overlooked because of their geographical isolation.”

Meanwhile, the Civil Protection Authority launched the website https://potresinfo.gov.hr containing all information about efforts to deal with the aftermath of the magnitude 6.2 earthquake that hit Sisak-Moslavina County and parts of Karlovac and Zagreb Counties on 29 December.

The website provides information about organised collective accommodation and how citizens from the quake-affected areas can get temporary shelter if their properties are destroyed or damaged.