After every tragedy, the questions are the same: could it have been prevented and who is to blame if it wasn’t?
After every tragedy, the questions are the same: could it have been prevented and who is to blame if it wasn’t? A month after the floods and landslides that hit Donja Jablanica, those responsible are still being sought. In addition to the force of nature, the responsibility of the human factor is also evident. This time the one behind what turned out to be an illegal quarry. At the beginning of October, the Prosecutor’s Office of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton formed a case and appointed a team of prosecutors to determine all the circumstances. And while the investigation continues, the profession warns: life after the tragedy in Donja Jablanica is no longer safe.
A month after the disaster in Donja Jablanica, the locals are left to fend for themselves. While they are waiting for the concrete moves of Bosnia and Herzegovina. authorities, live in fear of new floods and landslides. In the meantime, the profession warns that the terrain is still dangerous and that returning to the part of the village that suffered the most is not at all possible.
“Before any return, one should think about recording the terrain in detail from the aspect of security. In the winter period that is ahead of us, when precipitation is more frequent and temperature fluctuations are greater, the snow, ice and everything that was damaged during these natural disasters will freeze, and it will start to fall and break off” , warns Toni Nikolić, expert advisor for engineering geology at the Federal Institute of Geology.
Professor Nikolić visited the Donja Jablanica field with his colleagues in the past period and his observations indicate that the field is not safe. He notes that this part of Jablanica is completely geologically structurally damaged and that more serious safety analyzes can only be done in the spring.
“I would not recommend anyone to return to the facilities, especially in places where rockfalls have previously occurred ,” he says.
These are precisely the answers that interest the villagers, who have not resolved their housing issue and do not know if it is even possible for them to return. The problem, according to the professor, is that such answers are sought from politicians who, he states, are generally not experts in making judgments about these topics. And Bosnia and Herzegovina has a large number of experts who received training from the Japanese on natural disaster management after the 2014 floods.
“We need to use the trained people we have in the field who are ready to help, but, unfortunately, their experiences gained outside the country are hardly used at all,” adds Nikolić.
“We expect the competent services to provide us with normal living conditions ,” says Samir Maslo, a resident of Donja Jablanica.
And while the locals wait, they tour the quarry grounds themselves. As they point out, according to the observations they made, four to five large stream channels were created, which start from the very top of the hill above the settlement and extend for 300 to 800 meters in length.
“These are huge streams. As a child I used to pass by, there were never any big streams there. Now we have found a completely different scenario, everything that is located above the settlement looks terrible” , says Ramo Begović, a resident of Donja Jablanica.
The “quarry of death”, as the locals of Donje Jablanica call it today, is still a threat to the locals who still live here. We still haven’t seen concrete steps towards rehabilitation. Because there is almost no heavy machinery left in the village that will help with clearing, and the area where the landslide occurred is still completely untouched. Answers and concrete actions are sought.
“Someone needs to grant them some security here, that such an accident will not happen again, that it will be safe to live here, that some solution be found for this part that collapsed and headed for this village,” says Bakir Tufek, president of Mjesna community of Donja Jablanica.
The HNK Prosecutor’s Office is conducting a case against the disputed quarry, and the last activities were the seizure of documentation from the disputed company. And until the responsibility for the disaster in Donja Jablanica is determined, the profession says that we should follow the example of more developed countries regarding the issue of the signaling system, which is badly needed in this area. However, until this is realized, the only thing that can be said with certainty for these residents is that return is not possible and that the safety of the residents of Donja Jablanica who remained there after the disaster is questionable.
Source: akta.ba
