WOBO receives many communications that reflect on activities linked to COVID-19.  The following article reflects the need to consider risks and potential disasters that may occur in conjunction with the COVID pandemic.  The article is of particular interest as it reflects developments dating back to February 2020.

Earthquake amid a COVID-19 pandemic – Disaster management

Zagreb is situated in a seismically prone area. After the big earthquake in 1880 the possibility that the new earthquakes could occur was clear. It was only a matter of time before an earthquake would hit again. The 2020 Zagreb earthquake caused an unprecedented situation – people ran out from their homes, trying to observe social distancing rules, but when you are panicking from a very visible disaster, it is hard to remember and apply rules from another disaster.

In Croatia, first seismic design for buildings was introduced in 1964, and buildings built after that year were not been significantly impacted by the 2020 earthquake. Still, the scenes from Zagreb were quite serious. The highly damaged buildings are situated in the historical city centre of Zagreb, where most of the buildings were built before the 1950’s. These were constructed with brick masonry elements. The Markuševac quarter in the vicinity of the epicentre was also strongly affected and the majority of the highly damaged buildings were either very old or illegal and poorly constructed. The earthquake came in the worst possible moment when nobody knew what is the right thing to do – keep the distance or meet at the gathering area.

www.undrr.org/news/earthquake-zagreb-amid-covid-19-pandemic-opinion