Local relief for Serbia flood victims

(Update)

Thousands of people have been left homeless — and at least forty are dead after record flooding in the Balkans. The Balkan community here is now working to help their family and friends hit hard back home.

Imagine watching your hometown be destoryed from thousands of miles away and feeling powerless to do anything about it. That’s how some of the Balkan community in Hamilton was feeling as they watched the flooding on TV and today they are taking action to help.

Milan Michalovich and Igor Krivoshia are keeping a close eye on the flooding situation back home. Three months worth of rain fell in three days last week. Michalovich’s home town was wiped out. “It’s underwater. People in a certain part of the town actually had to be removed by chopper. They didn’t have time to get out of their homes and grab belongings.”

100,000 of those homes have been destroyed and at least 40 people have been reported dead in Bosnia and Serbia. Zorica Obravovic’s parents were in Serbia. For three days, she didn’t know if they were alive or dead: “It was really scary, because when you look at them, you can’t do anything because its so far away — you just watch.”

Her parents, who are in their 70’s, managed to make make it to Belgrade to safety.

Stefana Pesic is in a shelter in Belgrade and told CHCH News by phone that the devastation is shocking: “There’s nothing in the towns. It’s empty. The military has closed it off and people are stuck in there.”

The devastation has been all over the news in the balkans. It’s on TV and in the papers. But some in the local community in Hamilton think it’s not getting enough worldwide attention.

“It’s sad to see. It’s hard to grasp what the difference is between this and other natural disasters.”

So they organized a relief effort headed by the Hamilton Youth Flood Relief Group. They’ve planned a basketball tournament for this Sunday from 12:30 to 4:30pm at the Dofasco Recreation Centre, 388 First Road East in Stoney Creek. The Etno Bar and Grill on Gailmont is accepting donations on behalf of the youth group. But they stress no more clothing only hygiene products as well as cash.

“We are kind of fighting on 2 or 3 different fronts. We are trying to collect money because its the easy way to sent back and they can buy necessities. In the church, we are going to be having a donation lunch on the first of June.”

The Canadian Red Cross is also helping victims in the Balkans. They say they’ve provided things like water and food to 10,000 people so far: “We’ve helped ten-thousand people so far with food and water. ”

The flood waters are now receding but the impact of the floods is slowing washing in. For more information on all of the relief efforts, you can click on this link.

The charity luncheon will be held at St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, 149 Nash Road South, at 12 noon on June 1st.