Croatia honors post-quake leaders
President of Croatia Zoran Milanović decorated three professors from the Zagreb Faculty of Civil Engineering for organising structural engineers who voluntarily assessed the damage and usability of buildings following the 2020 earthquakes.
"Your volunteering is a special kind of volunteering - this was done in a difficult moment within a highly commercial profession. Your expertise is highly valuable on the market, yet the type and amount of work you dedicated to the public good is unprecedented," said Milanović.
He decorated professors Josip Atalić, Marta Šavor Novak and Mario Uroš. Through an informal platform, they coordinated the efforts of more than 1,700 experts after the earthquakes who ensured the assessment of buildings’ usability and damage, informed the public and organised various educational programmes, CE Report quotes HINA.
"I thank you on my behalf and on behalf of the citizens I represent for something that would not have happened without you. Without your efforts, the entire reconstruction process would have been more difficult, it would have had to start from scratch and much later," Milanović said.
Professor Atalić said the 2020 earthquakes were the greatest risk in Croatia they had faced so far. "Five years have passed, and we are now entering a critical period where the earthquakes may be forgotten. That is our biggest task now - to act and pass on knowledge to people."
