13.12.2014.

Minister Gasic visited Svrljig and Knjazevac

Minister of Defence Bratislav Gasic visited today SAF members deployed in helping residents of the Municipalities of Svrljig and Knjazevac. Accompanied by Army Commander Lieutenant General Aleksandar Zivkovic and Third Brigade Commander Brigadier General Zelimir Glisovic, he visited villages of Krenta and Mucibaba of the Municipality of Knjazevac, who have not had electric power, water or telephone lines for a week. During the talks with presidents of the municipalities of Svrljig and Knjazevac, Jelena Trifunovic and Dragan Mancic,and residents of Krenta and Mucibaba, Minister of Defence was assured that senior military staff and members of te Third Brigade had done everything in their power to reduce the consequences of the natural disaster.

- I don’t know if there is anything that has not befallen upon our beautiful country yet. We have seen the extents of the disaster in Svrljig and Knjazevac area, something no one could have predicted. There is no knowing what could have been done to prevent such natural disaster that has hit this area. The most important thing for us was for all the residents of these villages to be provided needed medical care and basic life supplies. The Armed Forces have shown once again that they stand by their people, and we will stay here for another week, together with employees of the Electric Power Industry, working primarily on providing health care for residents in the area of Svrljig and Knjazevac. We give maximum help with our engineering machinery and a great number of employees of the Electric Power Industry on setting up new polls. We also have our aggregates here, to help bridge the electric power for the residents and to provide necessary living conditions. The second part is devastating, which is the tens of thousands acres of destroyed forestry and the damage Serbia has taken there is grave, one which could not have been prevented – Gasic said.

According to Commander of the Third Brigade Brigadier General Zelimir Glisovic, the Armed Forces of Serbia began deployments in removing damages of the natural disaster in Knjazevac area four days ago, when one team secured accessibility to the object Tupiznica and secured aggregate power supply of emission-defusing equipment on that object. Until the normalization of the supply of electric network stations one diesel aggregate of 15 kilowatts is provided. Three days ago, a command team was formed at Nis garrison and teams were referred to both municipalities in order to gain insight on the current state on the field and to define the needs for deployment of SAF members on removing damage on the power network, or the needs for distribution of basic life supplies for the residents.

So far, around 120 SAF members have been deployed from the Third Brigade, Mixed Artillery Brigade and 21st Communications Battalion. Two engineering machines and three power aggregates are also on the field on Tupiznica and in villages of Miljkovci and Radicevac. Members deployed in repairing the power network have so far finished the work in villages of Lukovo, Krenta and Beli Potok, and they are currently deployed at the low-voltage line Krenta-Mucibaba.

Ambulance teams of the Third Brigade are also on the field, and they have conducted medical examinations in Knjazevac villages of Mucibaba and Krenta, and in villages of Vlahovo and Lukovo, during which 96 patients have been examined.

Resident of Mucibabe and Krenta repeated to Minister Gasic their gratitude to senior staff and soldiers of the Armed Forces on their provided help. One of the residents of Mucibaba, Nikola Maksimovic, stressed that the military has helped greatly and that they felt a lot safer in the village when the soldiers came. Military kitchen was also active at the village, while military doctors examined almost all residents. For Milovan Jovanovic from Krenta, the most important thing was that they were not left on their own, and Zlata Veljkovic from the same village stressed that the military was the first to come to help and that we have shown our strength as a people and what a great military we have.