Volunteers shine bright in flood relief
Ljubljana, 8 August - The country's flood relief effort has been led Civil Protection, which relies heavily on volunteer workers, while receiving a lot of support from voluntary firefighters along with hundreds of volunteers from charity organisations. All are witnessing immense willingness to help.
Črna na Koroškem
Massive clean-up efforts are underway after devastating floods hit Slovenia.
Photo: Anže Malovrh/STA
Around 25,000 voluntary firefighters have been involved in operations so far, along with 787 vehicles providing all necessary disaster relief equipment, the head of the Slovenian Firefighters' Association Janko Cerkvenik told the STA on Tuesday.
While seven firefighting boats have also been involved in rescue operations, the most needed pieces of equipment are generators for electricity backup and submersible pumps to pump water.
There are also around 350 volunteers of the Slovenian Red Cross active on the ground at all times, distributing food, water, hygiene supplies, cleaning products, medicines and clothing. Help has also come from Red Cross units from Croatia, Poland and Hungary.
The Slovenian Caritas has also contributed over 430 volunteers engaged in similar tasks, while the charity moreover highlighted over EUR 400,000 in donations by individuals raised so far. The organisation is starting a new donations campaign with the help of the retailers Mercator and Hofer.
Operating at full throttle as well is Slovenian Philanthropy, which has had almost 2,000 people sign up to offer assistance. The NGO, which says its main task is directing volunteers where they are needed the most, had around 100 of its volunteers involved in operations during the past weekend.