RED CROSS OF SERBIA PROVIDED FIRST AID TO VULNERABLE POPULATION OF MEDVEDJA, SURDULICA, CRNA TRAVA AND IVANJICA

25. January 2012.

The Red Cross of Serbia’s aid in food, hygiene products, footwear and clothing, blankets and other necessary items arrived yesterday in Crna Trava, while it should be delivered today to the Red Cross organizations in Medvedja, Surdulica and Ivanjica.

“The humanitarian organization’s volunteers, along with members of the local emergency management staff, are going to transport the said aid in all possible ways, even on foot, when the roads are totally impassable”, said Ljubomir Mihailovic, the Head of the Red Cross of Serbia’s Office for International Cooperation.

“The foodstuffs and other necessary items were sent from the Red Cross’ warehouse based on the report compiled by our organization’s field volunteers, who had seen what the population of the snowed-in municipalities lacked. We took into account the threatened categories of the population the most, such as the elderly and single-person households, single mothers and multi-member families on the edges of the municipalities or in totally inaccessible areas. We sent the aid to 100 families in the municipality of Surdulica, 70 families in Crna Trava, 60 in Medvedja and 120 in Ivanica”, Mr. Miladiniovic said.

This is the initial and urgent aid to the vulnerable population of the aforementioned snowed-in regions, who have run out of food and have no electricity. Among the items needed by the population are 3,500 candles, too, since power outages had occurred in a lot of places.

The implementation of the new Law on Emergency Situations produces some results, which may be seen in practice in the field, where local emergency management staff are active.