Parts of Bosnia are still under water 2 weeks after the floods began

Our teams have visited some of the areas of Bosnia which are still under the water two weeks after the flooding began. My colleagues had to put on rubber boots and protect themselves with respiratory masks to see the extent of damage that the floods caused in the Northern part of the country. They visited Orasje and Brcko. Alongside with them was Hanne Bjugstad, a colleague from Save the Children Norway who came to the office to help us out with some important aspects of our emergency response. Hanne made some compelling images from the flooded areas and talked to the people directly affected by the floods. A day before yesterday she was in Zenica, talking to people who fled from their homes as they collapsed due to landslides. “I meet some of the people who have literally had their lives flushed down a river drain in only a few weeks and are now living in a military base in Zenica, just outside of Sarajevo. From here I can see for myself that even small donations made from people in the village I’m from in Norway, plays an important role in an international well-functioning system,” says Hanne. 

Hanne Bjugstad in the school yard in Tosila, Bosnia

Hanne in the boys' locker room in the school in Tosila - the room filled with sewage water spilling out due to the flood.

 

“The last couple of days we have traveled past villages affected by over 150 landslides alone, and seen areas where no one can tell for sure where the landmines are located anymore. When I am done with this assignment, I can go back to my normal job in Oslo. The sweet escape of every trip we Norwegians take outside our own comfort zone. My colleagues in Bosnia are worried about the future. Will this change everything? What happens when the media focus on something else and there is no more money coming in?” Hanne wonders.

The sports hall in Brcko now serves as the collective centre/shelter for people whose houses are flooded. PHOTO: Hanne Bjugstad

Delivery of humanitarian aid materials has started

During the past weekend, our teams were assisting in packing and in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the communities most affected by the floods, or those where many displaced people have found their shelter. 200 hygienic packs with a week supply of hygienic means for a family were distributed over the weekend to Zenica, Bijeljina, Tuzla and Banja Luka. 120 baby packs including diapers and baby wipes along with baby food were delivered to the same locations.Another 50 hygienic and 30 baby packs will be distributed to Doboj in the coming days. Our hard working colleagues from partner NGOs, alongside with volunteers distributed the delivered aid to the families in need. Save the Children’s staff was also on the spot to talk to the affected families and to children and to help with the distribution. Our colleague Ljiljana Sinickovic, education specialist says “Every day is Monday since the flooding started. I work around the clock, but I still got energy. I go here and visit these people who lost everything, and I feel like my job is making a difference. I feel bad going home to my clean sheets, knowing that there are so many still here, not owning anything.”

Preparation of hygiene kits for distribution to the families in need in Bosnia

Distribution of cleaning equipment and tools to schools in Zenica-Doboj Canton

Simultaneously, a contingency of cleaning equipment and tools was distributed to 28 schools in Zenica-Doboj Canton, which were highly affected by the floods. 16,950 girls and boys are educated in these schools on a regular basis. Their education is currently interrupted and it is most likely that they will not be able to return to school in this school year, as the efforts to clean-up and dehumidify the school premises continue. By providing the clean-up and disinfection equipment and means, in Save the Children we hope to speed up the process of recovery, while at the same time we explore new funding opportunities which would enable us to provide school furniture and equipment, so that the 16,950 girls and boys can go back to school in September. What going back to school would mean to the children affected by this natural disaster is best reflected in a quote of Saudina , a 16-year old girl placed in the military camp shelter, whose house was destroyed by a landslide: “I like to attend the activities for children [organized by Save the Children in the camp], because it feels good to have something to do. I would be bored to death if not! It would be even better if the school would start again. That’s all I hope for: To go home and continue with my life.”

Saudina (16) who lost her house to a landslide at a military camp shelter in Zenica/ PHOTO: Hanne Bjugstad

The floods made schools unusable across Bosnia

In Zenica-Doboj Canton, one of the main Save the Children education programme interventions, 29 schools (pre-school, primary and secondary schools) normally attended by over 16,000 students, have been affected with recent flooding. Save the Children will support the Ministry of Education in Zenica-Doboj Canton, our long term partner, in their efforts of clean up and rehabilitation of the affected school premises in order to get them back to serve their main purpose – to be places of safe environment for all children to learn and thrive. In the initial repose, Save the Children will provide hygiene and cleaning materials and tools as well as disinfectants and personal protection kits for staff engaged in clean up.

A school in Maglaj after the flood. The wall shows the level that the water has reached.

In the second stage more support will be needed for providing the school furniture and supplies in order to make schools functional for children again.      

Primary school in Maglaj after the water torrent. 

Mines threaten Bosnia all over again

The 1992-1996 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina left the country contaminated with over two millions of mines and UXOs.  Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is ranked among the world's most dangerous countries in terms of landmines, according to the Bosnian Mine Action Centre (BHMAC). The situation presents a lingering problem that continues to hinder safety and economic development.  Since the end of the war, there have been nearly 600 mine-related deaths and 1,700 mine-related injuries in BIH. Of those, 94 were those working on mine removal, but the majority of victims have been civilians, primarily farmers and refugees returning to rural areas some of them also children.

Mine awareness leaflet published by BiH Mine Action Centre

Extensive landslides and the worst flooding ever recorded in BiH, in May 2014, additionally agrevate the difficult humanitarian crisis caused by flooding and landslides. The latest info is that 70% of overall mine suspected areas have been impacted with floods/landmines. According to the lastest info from the BiH Mine Action Centre, the critically affected are landslides, mudslides, riverbanks and areas affected with water over 1 meter high. Mine action signs have been gone so there is no proper signalization of previously marked minefields. In many areas schools are still closed, parents are preoccupied with rehabilitation of their premises so the fear is that children will be left alone wondering the areas that were recently affected by floods. All efforts have to be made to increase the awareness among children and families on the dangers of mines and UXOs immediately. An official from the BiH Mine Action Centre stated: "Some landmines are made of plastic and they float in the water like plastic plates. Others are heavier, weighting 1-3 kg, but even those are easy to be picked up by such water flow as the one affecting the flooded areas."

Landscape t in Nemila, Zenica-Doboj Canton after the floods.

There is a high overlap of flooded areas with minefields from the 1992-1995 war. This is a growing concern for the safety of children and their families in the following period. While the mine action teams are out in the affected areas, the awareness raising among children and families is crucial. The aid that is to be distributed by Save the Children will include the awareness raising information and the work with children in child friendly spaces will also focus on this important aspect of child’s safety.

In Tuzla where there are over 2000 registered landslides

Save the Children team was yesterday in Tuzla Canton where there are over 2000 registered landslides.

A house in Zivinice completely moved by a landslide.

Several collective centres have been opened to accommodate families with children evacuated from their homes due to flooding and now increasingly due to landslides. In the sport centre Mejdan, 60 people of which 20 children aged 2-15 from Cvene Njivice urgently sought refuges.

A boy with his pregnant mother in a collective centre Mejdan in Tuzla.

They hope that soon they will be given a permission to return to their homes. The team of geologists and civilian defence need to make sure that their houses are safe to return to. In the meantime, the volunteer of our partner organisation Land of Children runs some educational and recreational activities for children.

The account from our team visiting two of the most affected towns in recent flooding in BiH

During the peak of flooding in Maglaj the level of water was over 2 meters all over the town. The whole town has been affected and after withdrawal of the Bosnia river, the town has remained covered with at least 30 cm (in some areas with over 50 cm) of mud, branches and debris. Some parts of the city were completely unrecognizable. The cars on the streets were flooded and remained in their places filled with mud without being able to be moved any time soon.

Primary school Maglaj

The Save the Children team had the opportunity to talk with a family who sought refuge from the floods in the attic of their family house. All they had disappeared in one night and they do not know when we will be in a position to start a normal life.

 

We visited an elementary school that was largely destroyed. Instead of students in the hallways there were large amounts of mud and chairs and benches scattered by the water out of her classroom. The furniture in the school is irretrievably lost to the education of students. Education has been suspended and probably will not be restarted until the new school year.

 

The process of cleaning the city has begun but there is an evident lack boots, rubber gloves and cleaning products. To clean a large amount of waste from the streets, apartments and houses days will be needed.

 

The main road from Maglaj to Doboj is entirety blocked due to landslides, so alternative route had to be taken. Everywhere around, there were scenes of destroyed infrastructure.

 

Doboj is probably the most damaged city by the flooding of the Bosnia river. The water level in the city centre reached between three and five meters. In the centre there is a large amount of waste that people threw out of the windows of their apartments - all the furniture and their belongings that was destroyed in the flood. An unpleasant smell has already started to spread in the city so most people who are involved in the cleaning wear protective masks. In certain parts of the city the water is still present. A large number of cars in the city centre was completely destroyed during the floods. Teaching in schools is interrupted.

Volunteers help to clean the city (Doboj) severely affected by floods. It is visible on the building where the level of water was during the floods.

 

One of the witnesses of flood with whom I spoke described his experience as the end of the world. In both of the cities, there is evident lack of hygiene items, diapers and baby food. There are no organized activities for children because they are all devoted to urgent cleaning.

 

It stopped raining, finally. The temperatures are getting higher.  But with the increase in temperature, there is a risk of infections and communicable diseases.

Visit to Sapna where we opened the center for early childhood care and development only a month ago

The team arrived from Sapna last evening. The road was more or less ok and accessible.

Road to Sapna damaged by a landslide, viewed from Save the Children's vehicle in motion.

Only a month ago we visited this municipality in Tuzla Municipality to celebrate the opening of the center for early childhood care and development with our colleagues from Save the Children Italy and the Regional Office. We were greeted so warmly during that visit and enjoyed the day seeing how pleased everyone in this community had been with the opportunity to have some form of early childhood care and pre-school program since Sapna is one of four municipalities in Tuzla canton without a public kindergarden/pre-school. Yesterday, the reason of the visit was so much more different and the overall scenery. In April, as we drove towards Sapna, we were all amazed how beautiful the countryside was, with lovely hills and spring blossoming.

The school in Sapna, home to an Early Childhood Care Centre is now converted into shelter for the population affected by floods and landslides.

Now, after the devastating rains, floods and landslide, the countryside that used to look so peaceful, now looks completely different – broken roads, torn slopes of the hillsides, damaged houses. There are over 100 landslides registered in this municipality. Over 60 people had to be evacuated and sheltered temporarily in the branch school Gornja Sapna. For now, they say they have enough food and water but plea with us not to forget them in the following days as they say, this will last. And the houses and crops have been destroyed.

Save the Children visits to affected areas in Belgrade (Serbia)

Newborn babies and a boy sheltered in the collective centre Stari Aerodrom in Belgrade 

A day in the improvised shelter for 60 families in New Belgrade and visit to Roma settlements

Last evening in the middle of the night, there is an email from our colleague, Nevena, from Belgrade. She spent the whole day with the outreach workers of our partner organization Center for Youth Integration Belgrade visiting four Roma communities in Belgrade. I browse through the photos and first hand info that she shares with us – difficulties in coordination and information sharing, while the key priority is still the evacuation of people in most of the affected areas.

Children in the Roma settlement Vidikovac in the outskirts of Belgrade,
affected by the floods

The official news state that over 24,500 people have been evacuated so far, while the treats of the breakup of the Sava bank in Sabac mobilizes lots of civilians, army and civilian defense in immense efforts to prevent further devastation and flooding of this area. The reported number of causalities is increasing – currently the official reported figure is seventeen and one person is reported as missing.

Since the day 1 of floods in Belgrade, the Center for Youth Integration has been running the shelter for 60 families that had to be evacuated from their homes. The Municipality of Novi Belgrade has provided the premises and the volunteers from the Centre for Youth Integration have been collecting donation in food from local community and Red Cross. Still, water, food for children, diapers, antiseptics, hygiene kits and towels had to be urgently procured and more will be needed in the following days. A local pediatrician has been called to visit the shelter to provide council on health of children and families and hygiene.  A clear who is doing what has been arranged as well as organization of space and daily routines within the improvised shelter to ensure children and families are well taken care of with plans for establishment of a child friendly space within the shelter.

In the meantime the information from the Group 484, our other NGO partner is arriving. They have visited three collective centers where over 450 people have been evacuated, of which about a hundred are children of different age groups. The top priorities are hygiene kits, antiseptics, clothes and drinking water.

Save the Children visit to Bijeljina

Early this morning, one team set off from Sarajevo to Bijeljina. They managed to reach Bijeljina after three and a half hours passing by a number of landslides on the road. The Save the Children assistance that was sent yesterday from Sarajevo reached Bijeljina in the evening and was sent to the most affected areas.

Today, the situation in the town is getting a bit better, the water is withdrawing from the main streets and the pumping the water out of the flooded premises has started. But still, there are parts of the town that are completely flooded.

A children's park in the middle of the town of Bijeljina completely flooded.

There are collective centers established for over 6000 people who had to be evacuated from their homes. There is growing concern because there is an order to evacuate some 10,000 people from the parts of the town called Batkovic, Brodac, Ostojici, Balatan, Valino Selo and all these people need to be accommodated in collective centers that have been set up in primary and secondary schools in Bijeljina as the flooding of these parts has started.  

Destroyed homes and greenhouses in Bijeljina.

Within the town of Bijeljina itself, the most affected are two Roma settlements Tombak and Kanal.

Collective centre Sokol dom in Bijeljina is now home to 100 families affected by the floods

What this area needs the most right now is food and hygiene products.

 

Save the Children provides help to the rescue teams

Save the Children delivered electricity generators, pumps, boots, raincoats and sand bags to the rescue teams in Bijeljina, in cooperation with the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Civilian Defense of Republika Srpska (B-H)

One of three boats provided to the rescue teams in Bosnia and Herzegovina for emergency evacuations.

This is the forth day since the heavy rainfall has started causing massive flooding in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Just as the situation has been getting a bit better in some areas, the terrifying news of new affected areas comes. Bijeljina, a city in North-East of BiH with population of more than 100,000, since last night has been on top of all the news because of the fear of the breakup of the enbankement of the Sava river. This morning, Save the Children initial response to support the rescue teams in their lifesaving mission has departed for Bijeljina. We are checking the news all the time hoping that the efforts of the civilian defence and civilians will stop the breakup of the enbankment. Sadly, this evening, the news come that the embankement did not last and that 10,000 people will have to be evacuated.

Since yesterday, Obrenovac in Serbia has been the most affected. There are news coming that the all town of 25.500 will have to be evacuated. Our team member from Serbia is feeding in information, while the other team member, who has the relevatives in Obrenovac, receives the news the houses of her relatives have been flooded. The water had come in in the middle of the night  and they had to flee for their lives. We are all shocked and sad, but running around to make sure that the planned purchase of the rescue materials is going as planned. The news report that the death toll of the flooding in both countries in in increase. The rescue efforts are the top priority, but the needs of the evacuated children and families will be immense – helping their survival but also supporting the recovery.

Through the social media, we are contacted by many of our friends and relatives worldwide who inquire what is the situation like and how they can help. A group of young people from the area of former Yugoslavia has been organised doing fundraising for recovery of floods in Bosnia and Serbia. As they have been greatful to us for feeding the info on the news and putting them in contact with our colleagues in Save the Children US, we are also greatful to them for the solidarity that they have shown.

Also, in general, despite the feelings of fear and dispare at some moment, it has been great to see the mobilisation of support to people in need in different cities and towns of Bosnia and Herzgovina. In tough times, we can only make it if we stick together.

Following the inital delivery of rescue supplies and organisation of support to evacuated children and families in Tuzla, Banja Luka and Belgrade through provision of food, water and blankets, two of our teams are out tomorrow to Tuzla and Bijeljina. Good luck to all!

Six confirmed dead as worst rains on record cause horrific flooding, landslides in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia

This kind of flooding has not been seen in Bosnia and Herzegovina nor in Serbia ever before – it’s the worst flooding on record. Landslides have destroyed homes, many roads are completely washed away and much of the worst affected areas still cannot be reached because of damage to infrastructure. The bad weather is also affecting helicopters, which have been rescuing people from their rooftops. The situation is getting worse every hour. What seems to be an improvement in one site, it becomes a nightmare for the inhabitants of other communities, as the water moves down the river flow.

Save the Children is on the field, providing assistance to people affected by floods (Photo: Save the Children)

Cities such as Maglaj, Doboj, Banja Luka in Bosnia or Obrenovac in Serbia are literally under the water, which in some parts reaches the second level of apartment blocks. Hundreds of thousands of people remain without power and telecommunications as the search for the missing intensifies in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

Three people have been confirmed dead in Serbia and three in Bosnia and Herzegovina while over 2 million people are affected following the flooding, which comes after three days of heavy rainfall. Dozens of landslides have destroyed homes and hampered rescue efforts.

According to the Prime Minister of Serbia, Mr. Aleksandar Vucic, the whole city of Obrenovac in Serbia, with population of 25500, is to be evacuated

To make the situation worse, the Landmine Action Centre of B-H warns about possible movement of the landmines which are scattered around the country since the war 1992-1995 due to landslides and the water torrents. This presents a particular threat to the people and especially children, as what were marked landmine fields are now left without the signs and the fields boarders may have significantly changed.

The welfare of children is currently the main concern of Save the Children, especially those most vulnerable. In cooperation with our partners in the field, the official authorities participating in the rescue operations and local NGOs, we have started distributing the most needed equipment contributing to the rescue efforts (boats, water pumps, electricity generators, boots, raincoats, etc.) and the livelihood items for the most affected families. The team of Save the Children in North-West Balkans have put a lot of efforts to make sure that our response comes as soon as possible to those in need. As the day was coming to its end, while a bit frightened with the news and what the night will bring to many people, still it was a great feeling to know that some of the aid is out, reaching the children and families in need, that the needed supplies will support the efforts of the rescue teams in the most affected areas. Through our support and our committed partners in Banja Luka, Tuzla, Sarajevo and Belgrade, some of families that had to be evacuated will be getting much needed support. The efforts of our partners in these communities have been also tremendous to alleviate the suffering of many boys and girls and their families.

City of Olovo have been badly affected by the floods (Photo: klix.ba)

The data about the scope of damage is changing not from an hour to an hour, but from one minute to another. Thinking about the lifesaving, water, food, clothes, hygiene right at the moment. Most of the children in Bosnia and Serbia will not go to school after the weekend. More than half of the schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been closed as well as another 400 in Serbia because of the flooding. The school infrastructure is damaged or converted in shelters for the evacuated population. It is uncertain when the normal education system will be established in the most severely affected communities.

Save the Children is carrying out assessments to determine where the greatest needs are, and is working to source emergency relief items for distribution. As more of data comes in on the needs in different parts, further steps need to be taken. To save children’s lives, respond to needs and hopefully, soon get back to school and normality. 

Save the Children has been working in Bosnia Herzegovina since 1996, and Serbia since 1994, running programs in child protection, education and child rights governance.