SARAJEVO, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) remains dangerously underprepared for natural disasters a year after last October's deadly floods and landslides, Aldin Brasnjic, director of the Civil Protection Administration of the Federation of BiH (FBiH), warned on Tuesday.
"Prevention and early warning are our weakest links, and we are not doing nearly enough to avoid disasters like Donja Jablanica," Brasnjic told Xinhua at a conference on disaster risk reduction held in Sarajevo.
The conference, organized by the FBiH Civil Protection Administration in cooperation with the United Nations Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina, seeks to improve coordination among civil protection bodies and harmonize efforts in disaster prevention and risk reduction.
In October 2024, heavy rains triggered floods and mudslides across central and southern Bosnia, killing 27 people and causing an estimated 138 million euros in damage. In Donja Jablanica alone, a stone quarry collapse destroyed around 20 homes and claimed 19 lives.
A year later, authorities still lack an official list of illegal quarries or other high-risk sites, Brasnjic said. He blamed BiH's complex administrative structure for accountability gaps, noting that civil protection responsibilities are divided among the state, entities, cantons, and the Brcko District.
Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a majority Bosniak and Croat population, and Republika Srpska, with a predominantly Serbian population. The Brcko District functions as a self-governing administrative unit under the joint sovereignty of both entities. ■