Nikolic extends gratitude for solidarity and support

BRUSSELS - Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic thanked on Wednesday all participants of the donors' conference for the solidarity and support that they have been giving to Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) hit by the severe floods in May.

Serbia never forgets benefaction. It set up a monument of gratitude to France for the assistance in WWI, and now it will pay gratitude to the entire world for providing the unprecedented assistance to the Serbian people by putting up a monument in one of the flood-affected towns, Nikolic said.
"This will be a reminder for us all to respect nature, but also a monument to perpetuate human solidarity - a virtue we are all proud of. I know my people well. Your goodness will never be forgotten, neither by us, nor by our descendants,“ the Serbian president underlined.

Nikolic informed the participants of the conference that, after thorough assessments, the Serbian government made a report in cooperation with the EU and UN, putting the total flood damage and losses at EUR 1.5 billion.
"It is not the first time that catastrophic floods have hit Serbia but never in its history have the effects been more destructive," he said. He noted that the floods followed a heavy rainfall and strong cyclone which began on May 13, 2014.

Obrenovac was the hardest hit by the floods, with 90 percent of the town covered by water. All of its 9,000 residents were evacuated. Fortunately, thanks to timely measures, the nearby Nikola Tesla Thermal Power Plant, which produces nearly 60 percent of the total electricity in Serbia, was not flooded, the president said.

The Thermal Power Plant Kostolac, which generates 11 percent of Serbia's electric power, was jeopardized by the overflow of the Mlava River. The...

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