Deputy PM Tomo Medved, who heads the task force dealing with the aftermath of the December 29 earthquake, has said that the exact number of people who have stayed in their homes in the quake-hit areas will be determined, as will the whereabouts of people who have left their place of residence.

After the first meeting of the task force dealing with the consequences of the earthquake that hit Sisak-Moslavina, Zagreb and Karlovac counties, held in Petrinja on Monday evening, Medved, who is Deputy Prime Minister and War Veterans Minister, said that he had asked for detailed information on how many people had stayed in their homes in the quake-hit areas, whether they be fit for human occupancy or not, as well as on people who had left their homes and their whereabouts.

This is being done so that we could have complete control over who lives in what kind of conditions, Medved told reporters after the meeting of the task force.

He said that according to information available to him, there was no settlement in the earthquake-hit area of Banovina where intervention teams were not present, but noted that it was possible that not every household had been accessed.

Asked about criminal liability for the poorly done post-war reconstruction of houses in Banovina, which were again heavily damaged by the earthquake, Medved said that he would refrain from commenting as preliminary investigations had been announced.

Zinic: I was not in charge of quality control after post-war reconstruction

Asked if he felt personally responsible for the poor quality of post-war housing reconstruction, Sisak-Moslavina County head Ivo Zinic, who at the time was the chief engineer at the Reconstruction Ministry, said that he did not because at the time he “was not in charge of quality control.”

He added that a number of stakeholders had been involved in the process of post-war reconstruction – from local consultancies and supervisors to contractors that did work for ministries.

There is a possibility that there were irregularities but the competent services will determine if the houses were built in line with the relevant regulations, Zinic said.

Those were new houses, designed and built by authorised companies, he said.