Bosnia and Serbia will need billions to recover from the historic floods that hit both the countries last week, officials said Wednesday.
Although there's no official total for flood damages, the Raiffeisen Investment Group said in a note to investors that preliminary estimates are nearly $1.8 billion for Bosnia alone, the Associated Press reported.
With Bosnian President Bakir Izetbegovic supporting the claim, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said damages could range up to $2 billion.
In order to get international help with reconstruction efforts, EU has already started talks with both countries. Separately, Bosnia's Serb region is talking with its ally Russia.
"The flooding affected 40 percent of Bosnia, Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija said. It wrecked the main agriculture industry in the northern flatlands, wiping out infrastructure, farms, buildings and homes," the AP reported. "One quarter of the country's 4 million people have been affected by the six days of record floods and 2,100 landslides."
While 30 percent of railway lines are still unusable, 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) of roads have been destroyed or damaged, Bosnia's infrastructure minister said.
"This country has not experienced such a natural cataclysm ever," Lagumdzija said Wednesday.
"It's an enormous tragedy," agreed Kristalina Georgieva of the European Commission's International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response. The European Union responded immediately with rescue workers, helicopters, boats, tents and other aid from 16 member countries and plans even more.
"Right now, we are at the emergency assistance phase," she said, meaning the focus is on saving lives and preventing diseases. In the next phase, EU and local experts will be assessing the damage and then they will work on recovering and preventing future tragedies.
The record flooding has led to at least 44 deaths: 22 in Bosnia, 20 in Serbia and two in Croatia.
"Bosnia has one of the lowest gross domestic products in Europe and an unemployment rate of up to 44 percent. Almost no one has property insurance, meaning many residents lost virtually everything," the AP reported. "Serbia, like much of the Balkans, is poor."
