Marking the Fifty Years Since the catastrophic 1969 earthquake that afflicted Banja Luka, the “Banja Luka Earthquake 1969: Solidarity, Restoration and Construction” exhibition was opened on Saturay at the Svetislav Tisa Milosavljevic Exhibition Hall at the Banski Dvor Cultural Center, Radio Sarajevo news portal reports.
The exhibition, which is the central event marking the half century since the earthquake in Banja Luka, is a joint project of the Republika Srpska Archives, the RS Museum of Contemporary Art and the RS Archives Workers Association.
The exhibition is comprised of the historical-archival and artistic segment, with accompanying contents. The historical and archival segment of the exhibition takes us through the story of Banja Luka’s history through its demolition, restoration and construction from the end of the Second World War to the 1980s.
The exhibition will be open until November 30th.
On this day, October 27, in 1969 a devastating earthquake hit Banja Luka.
The first earthquake hit the city in the night between October 26 and 27 at 2:55 am. However, the time stopped from Banja Luka at 8:53 am. The earthquake that took lives and destroyed the city measured six degrees on the Richter scale, covering the city in dust within seconds.
The earthquake devastated the city entirely. It took 15 lives and thousands of people were lightly or severely injured, while 86.000 apartments were destroyed. Major damage was caused on educational (266), cultural (146), health (133), social and public administration institutions (152).
The economy suffered heavy losses. All enterprises worked with significantly reduced capacities during the following period and some of them stopped the production completely.
After the earthquake, the authorities were forced to send elementary and high school students from Banja Luka to other parts of the former Yugoslavia to finish the academic year.
(Photo: Anadolu Agency)
