Flood-caused damage exceeds EUR 175 mln

BELGRADE - The damage that Serbia has so far suffered during the severe flash floods exceeds 0.6 percent of the gross national income (GNI), which is a requirement for assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said at a meeting of international donors in Belgrade on Thursday.

According to the current estimates, the flood-caused damage in Serbia stands at around EUR 174.5 million, Vucic said.

The international donor meeting called to assess ways of helping Serbia deal with the massive damage caused by catastrophic floods and assisting reconstruction in the country opened in Belgrade on Thursday with a minute of silence for the flood victims.

Opening the meeting, Serbian Minister without portfolio for European Integrations Jadranka Joksimovic said that the government aims to inform officials of countries, international institutions and creditors that have been active so far in providing official development aid to Serbia of the scale of the floods.

Our goal is to inform international donors of the government's intentions and plans for overcoming the consequences of the floods, and assess possibilities for international aid for Serbia over the medium term, Joksimovic said.

Also discussed at the meeting will be future steps by the Serbian government and international development partners aimed at implementing measures towards the country's recovery and coordinating joint activities, she said.

Vucic noted that Serbia now has over 140 centers that received evacuees from the flood-affected areas, 47 of them in Belgrade and 93 in other parts of Serbia.

A total of 31,879 citizens have been forced to flee their homes, 1,763 facilities have been either destroyed or...