Harvey, Irma, Gracia… This reminds me of the nineties: Nuštar, Škabrnja, Kusonje… Some places would only appear in the news after they had already suffered in war; we get to know hurricanes and cyclones only when they start to devastate. I cannot even imagine how much 290 billion dollars is, or 1.5 percent of the U.S. GDP – which is the estimated damage from two hurricanes in the U.S. But I see the damage that one cyclone has left in Croatia. Indeed, against such a somewhat biblical flood, one is often powerless.
However, I cannot shake the impression that the human factor is also to blame for a part of the drama. The roofs of hospital buildings constructed 15 years ago should not have given way even to three hundred liters of rain. Regardless of the cyclone’s intensity, citizens expect that the money from their utility and water fees, all taxes and surcharges, is managed more efficiently. Because even for significantly milder storms, almost all cities on the Adriatic turn, at least temporarily, into small Venices. And the state and local gondoliers return too little of the collected money to higher utility standards.
