Earthquake in Croatia – SGA

Earthquake in Croatia

Earthquake in Croatia

A severe and tragic earthquake hit central Croatia a few weeks ago, probably the strongest earthquake ever in that area, and certainly within the last 100 years.

The area affected is just south of Zagreb. Two towns, Petrinja and Glina, have been devastated, with most of the buildings in the town centres reduced to rubble. Several hundred villages in the area are in a similar situation.

In some of them over 90% of the houses have been destroyed. Agricultural farms are permanently ruined. It is considered a miracle that only a small number of people perished in the earthquake.

Dane Vidović, a pastor & publisher living in Belgrade, Serbia is from this area of Croatia. He appealed to SGA for help and wrote;

‘Petrinja is my birthplace. Grabovac and Bačuga, villages in which Baptist churches are destroyed, are the places where I grew up, finished primary education, was converted and baptized, and made decisions concerning my future church ministry.’

Sadly, this is not the first time the people of this region have suffered extreme devastation. Dane explains that this region was also severely affected by the war in former Yugoslavia [1991-1995] when virtually the whole population was expelled to Serbia in 1995. In that year all of them lost everything in Croatia and went as refugees to Serbia.

Now the population, including believers, is faced with another crisis. Church buildings are either permanently destroyed or severely damaged.

Dane points out that ‘the greatest need is building material and help to rebuild their homes and church buildings.’

Through your partnership and donations, we were able to provide funding to help with these needs.