Maglaj owes its very existence to the Bosna River and the fertile floodplains surrounding it as it flows towards the Sava River, around 90km to the north. Though the old town of Maglaj is situated safely on a hill above the river, the new town is built on one such plain. Since 1956, Maglaj’s economy has been greatly based on the “Natron” paper and pulp factory, with the obvious exception of the period from 1992-95, during which time the town was so isolated that food had to be airdropped into it. 

 

Industrial activity has often had a devastating effect on water and air quality along the Bosna River valley. Accordingly, many people in the area believe that last year’s flooding was greatly intensified by aggressive, often illegal, deforestation of the hills surrounding the river, and by decades of waste being dumped into the river. Whatever the case may be, when the river rose up last May it did so to an extent never witnessed in the town’s recorded history..

 

 

 

 

Amila attended a concert by Divanhana on the evening of the 14th of May. “When we got home there was already water in our basement. Within no time at all the water was a metre deep. My grandmother is invalid and my father suffers from diabetes, and it just so happened that we had no bread or water in the house. So when my father heard firemen outside in the dark he yelled to them to provide assistance because of my grandmother’s situation. But the reply came that we shouldn’t worry, it would all pass during the night and we should sleep easily. So we were left alone for three days, at which point they came for us in boats. Evacuations carried out by volunteers were effective, even if they didn’t know the geographical layout of the town. Otherwise, the official evacuation effort was a mess. People were told to hang out white sheets to signal an urgent need for help but this was then changed to red sheets. And all of this was immaterial because the emergency phone number was constantly unavailable. Informal groups of citizens, particularly online, proved far more effective at informing citizens of the situation than official channels and sources. For instance, Antenna Radio from Jelah was more dedicated and effective than all of the relevant authorities combined.”

 

 

“Not only were we unprepared in the days and hours leading up to the floods, we also were never taught in school about the potential for flooding in Maglaj,” observes Admira. “It was always interesting to me that the railway here is raised and heads away from the river before it enters Maglaj. It is said that the railway has never once been flooded. Perhaps homes should never have been constructed in the space between the railway and the river.”

 

 

After the waters receded, hundreds of volunteers descended daily upon the town to assist in the clean-up operation and to provide supplies, replacing rafters who had rescued people and distributed vital supplies during the flooding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“There has been a total lack of coordination between these agencies, which has allowed abuse of the system,” claims Admira. “A house was renovated close to mine in which nobody lived before the floods. Now the owner wants to rent it out. I must say that these agencies produced great results in terms of large infrastructure projects such as schools, but their support to renovating private homes has been chaotic and mismanaged.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lala is in no doubt that Maglaj has learned little from the natural disaster that struck 16 months ago. “We have learned that humanitarian support mostly reaches a small elite. And, as we are increasingly a town devoid of young people, who will change such attitudes in the future?”

 

 

Lala has one more observation on the events of the last 16 months. “My daughter saw my name on a list produced by Civil Protection that I had been evacuated, with details including my home address. So I went to tell them off and to ask to be removed from such a list, as this is absolutely untrue. I was informed that it could be to my benefit in the future if I were to remain on the list. However, I still insisted upon being removed.”