09.03.2016.

Members of the Serbian Armed Forces in all affected municipalities

As of today, the Members of the Serbian Armed Forces are engaged in all municipalities in which the emergency after the flood was declared. In places where the situation was the most difficult in the past two days, in Lucani, Cacak, Kraljevo, Gornji Milanovac, Pozega, Bajina Basta and Novi Pazar, the teams were reinforced, which use engineering and other machinery to work on flood relief.

Upon the recommendation of the Government to engage the available capacity and based on the decision of the Minister of Defence Zoran Djordjevic, the army got involved from the beginning in assisting the local authorities in the flooded areas. The members of the Army, Training Command and Air Force and Air Defence are engaged. A large number of the engaged members gained experience in such situations, working day and night on flood relief in 2014.

"Members of the Second Army Brigade have been deployed to several municipalities in western Serbia. We sent machinery and engineering machines to the places where it was most needed. We are mainly working on building new and reinforcing the existing protective walls along the river beds, and it is essential that we ensure the protection of the population before the new flood waves", said Colonel Muharem Fazlic, Chief of Staff of the Second Brigade, who visited today the military in Lucani and Cacak.

We are working fast because we must take into account the new dangers of the upcoming water. The population of the affected areas live in that fear, and for them it gives great comfort and security when the members of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Interior are present.

"Assistance to the Serbia Armed Forces came almost immediately. They did not forget us this time again and we thank them. We put them in our local community building and we have been working together for three days now. We do not know what a day may bring forth, but we do know that the military remains with us, Zoran Zivkovic from Cacak says

On the ground with the troops there is also Aleksandar Ratkovic together with his neighbours and they are working together on reinforcing the river watercourses near Cacak. "The presence of the army motivates us to gather in as large numbers as possible where it is most needed, to jointly defend what we have painstakingly acquired here, and water relentlessly takes away".

Members of the Serbian Armed Forces are engaged in all crisis staffs that coordinate activities. It is planned that the military remain on the ground until the situation so requires, because after the floods there will be a lot of work to bring damaged buildings and roads back into operation.