Sisak earthquake (29.12.2020.) – can we fix our home?

The devastating earthquake of magnitude 6.4 Mw happened on December 29th 2020 and severely damaged my family’s house in Sisak, Croatia. My mum, sister, brother-in-law, little nephew and their animals lost their only home. The earthquake heavily destroyed Cities of Sisak, Petrinja, Glina and a high number of villages in their vicinity. The epicenter was 3 km west-southwest of Petrinja. Majority of houses in that area were severely damaged or completely destroyed. There are dozens of small and medium quakes (ranging from 1.5 to 4.9 Mw) every day, continuing to make more and more damage to houses (and emotional state of people there).

The static experts visited our house, and said it needs an urgent intervention, as at the moment, it is not safe to stay there. The good news is that it is possible to fix it. The bad news is that is very expensive. Unfortunately, we do not have that money, and after the earthquake in March that devastated Zagreb, we see that we cannot rely on government’s help. Therefore, I am very sad I need to ask for your help to rebuild my family’s home. And my childhood home.

The worst damage happened to the upper floor under the roof, and roof itself, where also parts of the walls have fallen to the ground. The chimneys are also broken and need to be replaced. Living spaces suffered extensive damage as well, the walls and the ceilings broke in several places. The damage continues to spread, as those parts that were torn off are very loose and continue to fall from the ceilings. The most urgent activity now would be to fix the roof to prevent the rain from soaking the rest of the house. We still do not know if there is a damage to water pipes, drainage or electrical system.

We estimate that we would need cca 30 000 EUR. If in any case we manage to raise more money than we need, we will forward it to some of many of our friends who are in similar or even worst situation.

Thank you in advance, we will be in your dept.

Marina - on behalf of my mum Mirjana, sister Ivana, brother-in-law Velibor, nephew Vilim, dog sale and cats Federika and Puf, the inhabitants of the house.