The Armed Forces continues its work in Obrenovac
15:37 Minister Gasic’s Statement
After another afternoon location tour of the most critical areas in Obrenovac, Bratislav Gasic, Defence Minister in the Government of the Republic of Serbia said that units of the Armed Forces have been working rapidly on efficient flood relief in Obrenovac for the past four days.
- In the last four days, members of the Armed Forces of Serbia have done everything possible to normalize the situation in Obrenovac after the disastrous floods. Each day here we have more and more soldiers, officers and noncommissioned officers from many units in the Armed Forces of Serbia who are, in cooperation with members of the Military Police and civilian structures, taking out destroyed furniture and piled-up waste, left over after the water receding. Currently, we are working on making collectors functional, and we have replaced the destroyed pipes, for which Belgrade has provided around 8 million RSD. I hope to, after tomorrow’s briefing on what has been done today, suggest to the Prime Minister the ending of the state of emergency in Obrenovac, at least when it comes to deploying the Armed Forces in this area. Of course, that does not mean our work is finished. A part of the Intendant, Engineering and the CBRN Units, as well as the units that are serving the barracks which accommodates more than 500 families, will stay. Disinfecting the streets continues, and a large portion of work now awaits city professional services of both Belgrade and Obrenovac. During the next month, their task is to do everything necessary for the life of citizens to come back to normal, especially in these, most critical parts of the city. A larger part of units of the Armed Forces of Serbia should return to their barracks after tomorrow – Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic said after another visit to the most critical areas in Obrenovac.
During the location tour, Minister Gasic was accompanied by, among the rest, General Dikovic, Head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Serbia and the Army Commander Lieutenant General Aleksandar Zivkovic. During his talks to the citizens, Miniter Gasic called upon their patience, pointing out that around 15,000 houses “have been taken away after the floods that had hit Serbia” in Obrenovac.
- In a second, the water destroyed buildings that had been built for ages. The Government of Serbia will not forget anyone; the damage that citizens of Obrenovac have suffered will be compensated, but it will inevitably last longer. The Armed Forces of Serbia are doing everything possible to bring the situation back to normal and to bring life back to Obrenovac as soon as possible. We need your patience and your trust – Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic stressed.
Obrenovac celebrated the Day of Pentecost, their patron saint day, in much better condition than in the previous days.
The citizens point out that it is largely the merit of the Serbian Armed Forces, which has been repairing the effects of flooding in the city for the fifth day.
For its members there is no weekly rest, and, after the line up in the "Bora Markovic" barracks, around 1,000 people, with heavy machinery, were sent on missions.
In the until recently impassable streets there are no more bulky piles of garbage or smell of decay, so the soldiers are engaged in the removal of residual waste, helping the population in the yards and on cleaning the streets.
- By engaging the Serbian Armed Forces, about fifteen thousand tons of bulky waste were taken to the damp and we can say that at the moment we are the largest building and utility company in the country – Lieutenant-General Aleksandar Zivkovic, Commander of Flood 
Relief Headquarters in Obrenovac said, adding that after the rescue and evacuation action, activities on sanitation and normalization of the situation are at the final stage, but the military still has a very important role in the networking and coordination of all public services and activities.
In front of the home of the facility of Sokolski dom, twelve members of the Command for speedy deployments of Belgrade Brigade have been engaged. Captain Milos Durkovic says that they have been working on eliminating the consequences since the first day.
- We are here to provide logistic support in the medical corps, food and fuel supply. Indeed, we give our maximum to help the local population and some of our members are residents of Obrenovac so we are helping them as well.
In front of the church and the "First Obrenovac school" primary school, part of the units from the AF&AD Training Center from Batajnica are loading the remaining debris, and they will continue to work in this street until it is completely done, the soldiers emphasized and said that they did not lack enthusiasm.
Reporters from Odbrana magazine found on the ground the team of the deployable medical treatment facility, which came at the invitation of one of the citizens whose mother had health problems. That was the reason to ask the general surgeon, Major Dejan Veljkovic what is the current situation with the health of the citizens of Obrenovac and what their most common health problems are.
- According to our protocol, so far we have done about 350 examinations. These were mainly minor injuries incurred during removal of garbage, but there is a lot of general internal conditions and examinations, hypertension, and a psychiatrist has also had a lot to do. All in all, we can say that our light field hospital justified its existence and patients had the opportunity to have basic health care practically next door.
PHOTOGALLERY
VIDEOGALLERYGet the Flash Player to see this player.
