Czech societies raise €20,000 for Croatia quake victims

ZAGREB, 23 January (Hina) – The Prague-based Czech-Croatian Society and the Swallow (Lastavica) association have raised HRK 150,000 for seven families and three single-person households in the earthquake-affected areas of Croatia.

The Czech-Croatian Society’s chairwoman, Ivana Tichá, says in a press release issued on Saturday that immediately after the devastating quake in Sisak-Petrinja County, the two societies, which are based in Prague, decided to launch a humanitarian drive whereby they collected donations in the amount of 533,000 Czech koruna (CZK), equivalent to HRK 150,000.

The collected funds were donated to the families whom the local authorities identified as the most appropriate recipients of aid.

One of the recipients is a family with six children in the village of Nova Selišta, whose house was razed to the ground.

Immediately after the quake, the Czech government provided Croatia with 600 beds, 1,200 sleeping bags and 10 portable heaters.

A part of the aid was distributed to the Češka Beseda association in the village of Jazvenik near Sisak, which has a sizeable Czech community, the Czech-Croatian Society says in its press release.