EU PROGRES

The European Union and the Swiss Government have joined efforts in helping Kraljevo alleviate the consequences of the November earthquake. The civil engineers from the European Partnership with Municipalities Programme – PROGRES, funded by the European Union and governments of Switzerland and Serbia, and implemented by UNOPS, have gone to Kraljevo today to spend the next two weeks working on the assessment of damage caused to the public buildings by the earthquake.

In consultation with the Kraljevo Emergency Management Office, it was decided that the PROGRES team should focus its efforts on the assessment of damage to schools and Kraljevo city administration building. It is expected that, in the course of their engagement, the engineers will visit some twenty public buildings, provide technical and financial assessment of damage and clear recommendations for further reconstruction works.

The damage assessment is one of the most urgently needed forms of assistance to Kraljevo at this time, and is actually a precondition for the work on the reconstruction of damaged buildings. The importance of such assistance is confirmed by the Emergency Management Office itself, which pointed to the fact that instead of 22 commissions working on the damage assessment, the city needs twice as many in order to finish the job by the end of December.

Although PROGRES supports the development of 25 municipalities in the South and South West Serbia which do not include Kraljevo, the PROGRES donors supported the engagement of experts outside the program area bearing in mind the difficulties and problems facing the public due to the earthquake. PROGRES will continue to coordinate its activities with the Emergency Management Office, and the Regional Agency for Spatial and Economic Development of Raski and Moravicki Districts, with the aim of creating the conditions for the reconstruction of damaged houses and buildings as soon as possible.