EU Flood Recovery programme helped restore normal life
The EU Floods Recovery Programme was launched in August 2014 with the objective to restore normal living conditions in local communities and aid the most flood-affected. Programme funds were directed ...
The EU Floods Recovery Programme was launched in August 2014 with the objective to restore normal living conditions in local communities and aid the most flood-affected. Programme funds were directed to rehabilitate public institutions and infrastructure, housing units for the most vulnerable, and social and economic recovery of local communities.
In hard-hit municipality Maglaj, as a sign of EU solidarity with Bosnia and Herzegovina, all eight public institutions with key roles in servicing citizens have been reconstructed.
Inhabitant of Maglaj municipality, Adisa Hrnjić, remembers some of the difficult moments when the floods destroyed her home.
“It started as an ordinary rainy day. I went with my children to visit friends in a village just outside Maglaj when my father called me and told me to stay put because the river Bosna had broken its banks.“
Material damage was tremendous for her family with very little money for reconstruction. And although they managed to collect some money and start with construction, a long and uncertain winter lay ahead.
Following a public call for assistance in floods recovery, family Hrnjić registered and was able to finish reconstruction of their home with the donated funds. Today it is a very different story because the living conditions in her house are better than before the floods.
“We thought we had lost everything. This entire floor has been refurbished thanks to this EU programme, from wiring to switches. If it wasn’t for the funds, my husband and I would still be paying back the loan and would not be able to move in for at least the next two years.”
Adisa said that her son, Edžnan, 7th grade student of the primary school, was not able to go to the school that had been devastated by the flood. Following the school rehabilitation, Edžnan was happy to continue his education.
“It is much better now. Everything is new, new chairs, new desks. Each classroom has its computer, a TV. There is heating in the classrooms now whereas it was cold before.”
Besides bringing a smile to students’ faces, the Programme helped to strengthen ties between people in the local community.
“After that May 15th, life in Maglaj just stopped. Following rehabilitation, the entire city has flourished. We can say that the floods brought us together and improved our lives. We are all winners,” said Adisa and thanked all for the donations without which it would have been very hard to reconstruct the damage.
