So far over 1,300 housing containers have been set up in the quake-hit areas, and they have been connected to the electricity grid and 50 new sub-stations have been built, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Tomo Medved - who also heads the task force dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December earthquake - said on Wednesday.

“After the earthquake, 888 requests for temporary accommodation were treated as urgent, and the fact is that we have more than 1,300 housing containers set up speaks for itself on how we have handled those requests,” Medved told state radio HR.

“Due to the structure of the population and dispersion over a large area it was not easy to secure and deliver so many mobile homes and prefab containers close to quake survivors’ own homes, and sometimes we had to build new roads to get close to these houses to connect them to the electricity grid,” he added.

So far 10 container settlements have been set up in locations in Sisak, Petrinja, Kukuruzari, Mecencani, Glina, and Hrvatska Kostajnica.

Medved noted that more than 28,500 buildings have been inspected by surveyors in the aftermath of the December quake, with more than 3,500 labelled ‘red’ i.e. unfit for use while 5,500 received yellow labels meaning they are a safety hazard.