Initial damage assessment "hundreds of millions"

Initial damage assessment "hundreds of millions"

Mihajlović, who also chairs a commission set up to assess the damage done by the floods, explained that the figures from the local governments would be checked by construction inspectorate engineers, and then by expers from a body that the government is yet to form - the Office for Humanitarian Aid.

After this, the commission will send its conclusions to the government, she told TV Pink.

Serbia will seek assistance to rebuild the country from all relevant financial institutions, Mihajlović said, adding that she would today hold a meeting with World Bank representatives.

Minister of Trade and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić visited the municipality of Bajina Bašta on Tuesday and told the RTS today that while the immediate danger is receding, the scale of the damage done by the natural disaster was now becoming "visible".

He noted that most of the hardest-hit municipalities have been those with small budgets, high unemployment, and poor infrastructure, which means that the government and the state have "a huge obligation to repair the consequences of the catastrophe."

This will require "enormous financial means and experts," Ljajić said.

The minister announced "work on several fronts" as more than 3,000 kilometers of roads have been damaged, 250 bridges destroyed, and 2,500 residential facilities either destroyed or damaged.