(Vatican Radio) As large parts of the Balkan region remain under water, the coordinator
for Caritas Serbia said people have begun to suffer from waterborne diseases. The
situation is “still very chaotic” and it is “extremely difficult still to coordinate
everything” in terms of aid, Darko Tot told Vatican Radio on Monday.
Torrential
rains last week flooded Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia, leaving about 35 people dead and
more than 25,000 people evacuated from their homes. Thousands of residences have been
destroyed, Tot said. The flooding is the worst to hit the region in at least 120 years.
About
5,000 people have been evacuated to Belgrade in a number of “collective centres,”
said Tot. Thousands of others are being housed in centres in other parts of the country.
Many have taken refuge with relatives in dry areas or simply continue to live on the
upper floors of their flooded residences.
Caritas Serbia is distributing food
and basic hygiene items in the wake of the flood and is currently assessing the situation
in order to be able to provide more coordinated assistance later this week, said Tot.
Caritas is also considering providing food for animals that survived the flood.
The
River Sava is the biggest danger at the moment, he warned. While hundreds of thousands
of sandbags were placed along the river to raise the embankments, there is now water
“coming (down) through the forest” and it is extremely difficult to control, he related.
“It
is still impossible to say what will be the final outcome at the level of damage,”
he added.
Caritas needs support from outside in order to provide assistance,
Tot stated. The best way to help at the moment is through financial assistance because
goods can be purchased on the local level "and then it’s just a matter of distribution,”
he said.
Finally, Tot appealed to the world community to keep the people in
the Balkan region top-of-mind in the coming weeks and months.
“Don’t forget
us because after this first impact these people will come back to their empty houses
and will still (have) huge problems,” he said. “They are already asking for some psychological
support … and we should not abandon them.”
To make a donation to Caritas Serbia,
go to: www.caritas.rs
Listen to the full interview with Darko Tot:
Report
and interview by Laura Ieraci