On 9th and 10th of February Caritas Serbia has organized a workshop about disaster risk reduction, on which were present around 40 representatives of Caritas organizations, from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Netherlands, Romania, Austria, Spain, Germany, as also a representative of Caritas Europa. Other than the representatives of Caritas on this workshop were present also the representatives of Catholic Relief Services from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On the very beginning the Director of Caritas Serbia, Rev. Vladislav Varga, gave his opening speech to the participants, pointing out that our role, in a christian sense, is to rule the earth and everything that surrounds us, which we can also do by preventing natural disasters. He also quoted a eastern wisdom which says that the world would be different if every little man could do something good for the community, which is why it’s important that more people feel the responsibility for the environmental protection.

After the introductory presentation the participant had a chance to get to know experiences of Caritas in helping the people from the flooded areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The work of Caritas Croatia was presented by Rev. Ivica Rebic, Director of the Caritas of the Djakovo-Osijek Archdiocese, the work of Caritas of the Bishops Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina was presented by the National coordinator Dijana Muzicka, while the work of Caritas Serbia was presented by the Director of Caritas of the Belgrade Archdiocese Miloje Veljic and the Director of Caritas Srem Rev. Jozo Duspara. The experiences from the field show that in the past few months, especially in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, Caritas has gained an image of an organization working directly with the beneficiaries, respecting the dignity of every person and it’s overall needs.

During this workshop the participants had a chance to talk in groups about what could be done on the field of disaster risk reduction in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. They also had a chance to speak about the regional projects, considering the fact that the last years experiences have shown that a great number of floods have striked the border parts of the countries in the region, around the big rivers. Other than the floods, as eventual risks in this region it have been individuated: earthquakes, landslides, forest fires, hailstorms and great amounts of snow. Many groups have pointed out that it’s important to influence the local authorities, so they could clean the river beds regularly and build dykes in the critical areas. Other than the work with the local authorities the participants have pointed out that it’s important to work on the education of the members of the local communities, so they wouldn’t pollute rivers and canals by throwing the garbage and so they could be prepared for eventual risky situations. This training should be organized starting from the youngest members of the communities and young volunteers, because the experience show that they have most enthusiasm for learning new things. The representatives of Caritas pointed out that it’s important to renew or create Caritas national an regional action plans in urgent situations, have a mobile team ready in cases of natural disasters and find people who could animate local communities to think of a strategy of disaster risk reduction actions.