Generosity and Unity Emerge from Floodwaters

On this warm and sunny day, with crowded cafés and patios, and streets and quays teeming with pedestrians, it’s hard to imagine that the country is in a state of emergency.

In fact, it is.

During the past few days, Serbia has been struggling with the biggest floods in recorded history. People who live in the central and western parts of the country have suffered the most. Due to enormous and unusual amounts of rainfall for this time of the year, rivers Sava and Kolubara have gone out of their beds and flooded most of the towns they flow through. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes, while dozens perished. Neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia are suffering the same disaster, with the north-eastern and eastern areas, respectively, being the most critical.

An estimated 2 million people in the Balkans have been affected by the floods, but the damage caused by overflowing water has yet to be determined.

The moment the situation had become alarming, the people of Serbia rushed to help those in need. They organized labor actions (radne akcije), which included building dams along rivers and assisting evacuations; established funds to collect money for the endangered people; and donated food, water, clothes, medical equipment, medication...

Of crucial importance was, perhaps, the response of the Serbian youth. Thousands of young people have been mobilized by the Serbian government and the Red Cross to help in the relief efforts. Volunteers were allocated across various evacuation centers established in sport centers, arenas, faculty halls and hotels in Belgrade and other cities, sometimes even outnumbering the evacuees.  

Companies, supermarket chains and shops, associations, famous and wealthy people joined the action by supplying these centers with food, water and other necessities or making money donations for subsequent recovery and repairs. The help from abroad is also noteworthy. The European Union, the United Nations and individual countries and organizations have joined the relief and recovery efforts. Most overwhelming and heartfelt were the help and support from former Yugoslav republics, who were among the first to provide man-power and truckloads of food and water.

(Skopje, Macedonia)

Last but not least, radio-amateurs and social network users had a pivotal role in rescue missions, reportedly having saved over a thousand lives. They worked through day and night, linking boat rescue teams to stranded people and distributing information and updates on flooded areas and missing people.

ESN BelUPgrade is currently organizing a fundraising event which is to take place by the end of the month. In the meantime, our members have been volunteering at evacuation and donation centers.

Thus, we end this week’s post with a genuine testimony from a fellow “BelUPgradian” who has been actively volunteering over the last week.

“Being a volunteer who helps people in need can’t really be described as nice or wonderful, but I can say that I’m glad I am able to help with what I can. Of course just like the rest of the people, I wish my help or any other help wasn’t needed, and that none of this has ever happened. However, we can’t live on wishes and hopes. We need to be united, because that’s the only way our help can be provided, and I’m glad that’s the case. For the past few days I have been volunteering at one of the collection centers, where we were sorting out goods, packing them and organizing delivery. After a long day, when I get home, I feel tired, but I choose not to think about that. I choose to think about how happy some kid will be when he/she sees the new toy we packed for him/her. Volunteering are people of different age and profession, but most of them are students, just like me. We choose not to think about the upcoming exam period, constantly repeating to ourselves that there are worse things that happened to some people. I must mention my greatest moment, which made me burst into tears. One elderly woman came and asked what we need most, to which we replied we needed hygienic goods. Fifteen minutes later she returned carrying two plastic bags of old perfumed and very expensive soap bars. She said that those soaps were a memory of her husband, but that there were people who needed it more than her. It is because of those people I am always ready to help. I would also like to use the opportunity to ask everyone who can help, in any way, to do so. One box of cookies, wet wipes, or anything else is not little. It means the world to them.“

(Co-written by Jovana Ružić and Uroš Jovanović)