The Construction Ministry has so far received 763 applications for the reconstruction of buildings damaged in the March 2020 earthquake in Zagreb, while the Fund for Post-Earthquake Reconstruction of the City of Zagreb, Krapina-Zagorje, and Zagreb counties has not received any to date.

“The ministry received 763 applications by Tuesday. The Fund has not received a single one,” the Fund’s director, Damir Vandjelic, said, adding that

The fund, in charge of emergency accommodation, is paying out allowances for urgent repairs and 242 such payments have been made so far.

“I believe that the process will start at a particular moment because I have seen those people in Banovina, too, helping citizens fill out application forms. They will start forwarding the applications at a particular moment,” Vandjelic said.

He met in the town of Donja Stubica, northeast of Zagreb, with Krapina-Zagorje County Prefect Zeljko Kolar and his associates, as well as other local officials to discuss activities related to reconstruction in the county.

Speaking about the start of reconstruction process, Vandjelic said that he first needs to be issued with a decision to that effect by the ministry, after which he will be able to say when reconstruction will begin.

“I definitely will not serve the full term because I will do my best for reconstruction to be launched sooner. If we fail to make it sufficiently fast, I will resign,” said Vandjelic, appointed on Tuesday for a term of four years.

Kolar said that the damage in Krapina-Zagorje County from last year’s two earthquakes, with the second happening on December 29, and hitting Sisak-Moslavina County the most, had so far been estimated at HRK 115 million.

Structural engineers will inspect buildings that were initially labelled green, but have been damaged since, and will most likely now be issued with yellow labels.

It was also noted that some families could not claim damages because their houses were built without a building permit.