Amna Cerimagic in Tuzla
An elderly couple with a house by the river Vrbanja were cleaning up. "It's no good," said a despondent Mahmut Fific. "We have lost almost everything." The river had swept it away, leaving a house full of mud and a destroyed garden. Tears filled his eyes and he could not imagine that anything worse could happen. But landmines may have moved with the waters and pose a serious threat to the population.
Mahmut and his wife Razija are among more than 100,000 people affected by widespread flooding in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the International Federation today launched an appeal for assistance. Rivers burst their banks on 20 June after three days of heavy rain, inundating much of the Tuzla, Doboj, Banja Luka and Brcko areas. Homes and crops have been damaged or destroyed, and infrastructure seriously affected. People are sleeping on floors of schools and other public buildings, or have found temporary shelter with friends and relatives.
Mudslides, a constant hazard after years of deforestation, have exacerbated problems and new ones are occurring daily, threatening more lives, property, telecommunications and power supplies.
Now comes another danger. The water has subsided, people are going home, their furniture is drying in front of their houses, the rain replaced by sunny weather. But it could be too soon and the newly-recognized Red Cross Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina is warning victims not to return immediately because the disaster may have shifted landmines and existing knowledge of safe and unsafe areas is no longer reliable.
"As the water has gone down many people are going home to assess damage and salvage what they can," said Dr Midhat Haracic, chairman of the National Society's presidency. "Until fresh surveys can be done, they could be in extreme danger."
The long-term consequences of the flooding should not be underestimated, Dr Harac said. Thousands of flood victims were still struggling to recover from the aftermath of war when the water overwhelmed them. Many had been displaced by the conflict and had only begun to put their lives together again. The worst hit are families relying on subsistence farming.
Some Red Cross volunteers have been walking barefoot through the water and mud to deliver assistance and comfort to people still cut off by the disaster. A relief operation has distributed food, blankets, hygiene parcels, beds, mattresses, candles, water bladders and jerry cans from existing stocks of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The Federation's disaster relief emergency fund quickly made 75,000 Swiss francs available and the Netherlands, Norwegian and US embassies in Sarajevo have made generous donations. More assistance is required, however, and the Federation appeal is for 277,100 Swiss francs to help 7,000 of the most affected flood victims for a month.
Volunteers took beds to Mahmut and Razija's house in Kotor Varos. "We tried to save the few belongings we had," Razija told them, "but the water was rising fast. I am partly disabled and my husband tried to carry me out of the house. The water was up to our throats when a neighbour came to help, and took us to a relative's house in a safer area. But we couldn't stay there any longer once the river had returned to normal."
Said Mahmut, "We have survived two wars. Who would have thought our gentle, beloved river would almost kill us."