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IDC reports progress in rebuilding and support efforts after the Balkan floods of 2014

Posted on | by Paul Wardenga IDC reports progress in rebuilding and support efforts after the Balkan floods of 2014

Serbian SAM.I. member IDC has published an information sheet on the progress in supporting families affected by the May 2014 floods. Together with the Samaritans from Austria and Germany, as well as third partners, they have conducted various aid activities in the affected regions.

Right after the flood hit, IDC, ASB Austria, and ASB Germany were active in the distribution of aid packages to the affected population. In a locally coordinated effort, a total of more than 100 tons of aid materials were distributed.

Photo: IDC
Photo: IDC

After alleviating the immediate impact of the flood, IDC and their partners focused on rebuilding and sustainably continuing to help by revitalising important local economic sectors. Agriculture, for instance, is one of the main pillars of the economy in the affected rural areas. Thousands of hectars of arable land were lost to the floods.

Together with ASB Austria and with a grant from Nachbar in Not, IDC conducted a project that supported 147 families in re-building their agricultural holdings and gave at least 1400 people a chance to rehabilitate their land. Another project, done in cooperation with ASB, Housing Center and the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation, focused on housing reconstruction and economic empowerment of over 170 small enterprises and farms. The beneficiaries were provided with the essential means to resume their businesses (agricultural machinery, greenhouses, etc.).

The Samaritans conducted an additional effort, funded by NGO Farmaceuticos Mundi, to deliver aid packages and make the houses of over 100 families habitable again. IDC’s employees, together with a large number of volunteers, pumped water out of damaged houses, cleared any debris the floods had brought into the buildings and dried, disinfected and repaired the family’s habitats.

For their relief efforts after the Balkan floods, IDC and the involved Samaritan partners were awared with the 2nd place of the 2014 SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T. international awards.