Deputy Security Minister in BiH for Protection and Rescue Samir Agić said today, at the regional conference “Floods in South-Eastern Europe – Lessons Learned and Ways Ahead”, that no one can guarantee that floods, which happened in May in BiH, will not happen again.
“Together the with our colleagues at the Security Ministry in BiH, we made certain analytical documents with plans which describein what way to choose the best path in countering the disaster,” Agić said.
According to him, the situation is not at all simple, primarily from the financial perspective and because of the decentralization of the system in BiH where there are so many different institutions which have their role but the issue of coordination was not solved.
Agić said that in BiH most institution coordinate other intstitutions.
“I think that in the following period, beside the basic things which we should solve, one of the first issues is to answer the question what is coordination. Then we will have systems and money and citizens will be safe,” Agić said.
At the BiH Security Ministry, as the relevant institution for coordination, they can make a framework joint plan in a way, but in no way can it influence the manners in which funds will be spent or who will do what.
“What we get at the Security Ministry are only reports on what has already been done. By now, unfortunately, we did not receive any information that an embankment was made or a major project launched but we absolutely believe that colleagues are working on that within their jurisdiction,” he said.
Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH, Ambassador Jonathan Moore, said that the broader purpose of this conference is improving cooperation between countries of Southeast Europe in water management.
According to him, it is clear that the cross-border nature and the effect of the floods in this region are in invitation to the strategic preparation and prevention in countries and between countries.
He said that their goal was for this event to serve as a regional forum for exchange of information and solutions for reduction of risk from flood and improvement of cross-border cooperation in alleviating risks and protection from floods.
“We gathered experts from civil protection, experts in the field of water management, decision-makers and local authorities from cities which are near rivers so they could deal with this task,” said Ambassador Moore.
Director of the Centre for Security Cooperation RACVIAC, Ambassador Branimir Mandić said that beside preventive work, joint, coordinated performances of all factors within countries, but also countries with each other, they want to build a network of contacts that will be able to react much earlier in similar disasters.
“We should be able to react together since speed is sometime very important. But what else is important is to overcome bureaucratic obstacles because sometimes acquiring permission takes too long,” Mandić said.
(Source: vijesti)
