Croatia on Tuesday marked the second anniversary of the devastating 5.5-strong earthquake that hit the capital city of Zagreb on March 22, 2020, causing €11.5 billion in damage, as Zagreb residents and the general public are still waiting for full-scale reconstruction to begin.

The earthquake killed a 15-year-old girl, while 27 people were injured. As many as 25,000 structures were either destroyed or severely damaged, including schools and hospitals, the Government House and Parliament Hall.

Croatia was granted €683.7 million for earthquake relief according to the provisions of the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF).

Although some headway has been made in the post-quake reconstruction, residents in the quake-affected areas and the general public are still waiting for the reconstruction to be in full swing, as the Reconstruction Fond explains that public procurement procedures and designing had taken more than than initially planned.

The reconstruction and retrofitting of over 120 blocks of flats and family homes are scheduled to start this spring.

Also, the repairs that do not include seismic retrofitting are to be done to roughly 500 residential buildings this year.

Furthermore, the authorities have recently started disbursing the compensation to the owners who have already rebuilt their quake-damaged properties on their own initiative.

Majority of school buildings reconstructed

So far, most of the school buildings affected by the tremor have already been reconstructed.

The Medical School has been awarded 377 million kuna for the rebuilding and upgrade of its five buildings.

Also, the Croatian Parliament’s building has been awarded 87.6 million kuna for its post-quake reconstruction.

€266m contracts inked for Zagreb health institutions’ post-quake reconstruction

A total of 43 contracts, worth 1.98 billion kuna, have been signed so far for the post-quake reconstruction of health institutions in Zagreb and its surroundings, since the 22 March 2020  earthquake, according to the data provided recently by the Health Ministry.

€466m for renovation of historical and cultural landmarks, places of worship

The ministry of culture and media has reported that the contracts have been concluded on the reconstruction of 149 projects concerning listed building housing museums, churches and other important institutions, and HRK 3.5 billion has been put at the disposal by the Solidarity Fund for this purpose.

Year-long extension of deadline for using EU quake relief

Croatia will be able to use the relief granted from the EU Solidarity Fund (EUSF) for earthquake reconstruction in Zagreb until June 2023, which has been adjusted to the period for the use of the allocation for the 6.4-strong earthquake that hit the area of Banovina in Sisak Moslavina County on 29 December 2020 and progressive damage caused.

(€1 = 7.5 kuna)