More than a quarter of BiH’s 4 million people have been affected by the worst floods to hit the country in more than a century. Roads connecting municipalities have been blocked and some areas remain without electricity with water supply and mobile networks also not operational. Several briedges have been destroyed and some villages have been cut off. Emergency evacuations have been carried out. There have also been incidences of landslides, exposed landmines left from the war and the possibility of post-flood infectious diseases.

In terms of the EU’s response to the crisis, so far 21 EU Member States – Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden, and the UK – are providing assistance. The assistance is comprised of direct financial donations, as well as various technical equipment (helicopters, boats, pumps, tents, sandbags etc.), food and water and manpower with over 130 relief workers currently on the ground.

An EU Civil Protection Team arrived in BiH on 18 May to provide support and assistance to the local authorities and to make assessments with regard to future support. The European Commission’s Emergency Response Co-ordination Centre is also in constant contact with the BiH authorities and with participating states in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, matching the incoming offers for assistance with the actual needs on the ground.

Head of Delegation/EU Special Representative, Ambassador Peter Sorensen, underlined that the EU will spare no effort in the short or long term to help BiH recover from this crisis.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina will not be left alone. The EU is fully and actively committed to supporting Bosnia and Herzegovina to tackle the short and long term consequences. We have responded immediately to the requests of the BiH authorities as they have come in to the European Commission Emergency Response Coordination Centre. An EU Civil Protection Team has been deployed and is at work making the initial assessments. The European Commission is providing satellite imagery of the flooded areas to the relevant authorities and is co-financing the transport of aid.“ he emphasised.

Ambassador Sorensen on behalf of the Delegation of the European Union/EUSR delivered humanitarian aid for citizens in the affected areas to one of the collection points in Sarajevo. “I am impressed with the work done by emergency services here and enormous efforts of many volunteers I have encountered today in these most difficult circumstances”, he underlined.

On 21-22 May, the EU Commissioner for International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, visited BiH to see at first hand the effects of the devastating floods in the country. “We are at the emergency phase where the most important objective is to reduce the risk of loss of life and damage. Next, we will move towards humanitarian assistance. Those who lost their homes – 3,000 landslides have led to a lot of damage to homes of people – will need generators for electricity, water purification systems so they have clean water, food, shelter, mattresses, beds, medical assistance. This is now our priority, to fund humanitarian activities and respond to requests that the government is putting to us,” she stated.

She went on to say that it is necessary to work on an assessment of the damages as soon as possible and then to set the relevant tasks for the future reconstruction of all affected areas so that the local communities concerned can return to a functional level as quickly as possible.

For more information please visit Commissioner Georgieva’s website:
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/georgieva/index_en.htm

For more information please visit the European Commission Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection website:
http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.htm