Mr Jadran Perinić, born in Zadar on 22 April 1959, was appointed  on 1st of February new Director  General of the National Protection and Rescue Directorate of the Republic of Croatia. He graduated from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. He pursued the same field and branch of studies till the Zagreb School of Humanities and Social Sciences awarded him a PhD in 2010 for the dissertation entitled “Public Opinion as a Subjective Feature of a Crisis Situation – The Impact of Media and Public Relations Services on Public Opinion”.

He has been employed with the Professional Firefighting Unit of the City of Zadar since 1981 where his tasks also included commanding of a fire station. At the same time he also lectured for two years  Business Communication at the Department of Mass Communication of the University of Dubrovnik.

During the Homeland War, as a firefighting unit member, he was mobilized into civil protection units where he remained as a member of the same unit within the Ministry of the Interior from  April 1994 to January 2000. He was awarded the Homeland War Memorial Medal and the ‘Storm’ War Operation Medal.

He speaks English and German. He has been registered as scientist with the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports. He  also wrote a book on business communication. Since 2007 he has focused on media theory, public relations and public communication in emergencies and crisis situations in general. He has on occasion delivered lectures at schools of journalism and public relations in Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Novi Sad.

PPRD South welcomes the new Director General  within the network of the Programme Partner Countries  and is looking forward to the continuation of such a positive and effective  collaboration with Croatia  in the  activities carried out by PPRD South Progamme.

On 31 May 2011 the “Lovre pl. Matačić” elementary school in Zagreb hosted a ceremony to award the best art and literary works by Croatian elementary school children on “Disasters and Emergency Response”. The ceremony was organized by the National Protection and Rescue Directorate and the host school.

The ceremony was attended by Damir Trut, director of the National Protection and Rescue Directorate, Vinko Filipović, director of the Croatian Education and Teacher Training Agency and other representatives of ministries, City of Zagreb, Zagreb County, emergency services and Croatian Mine Action Center.

The invitation for submission of art and literary works of elementary school pupils in Croatia was launched in December 2010 by the National Protection and Rescue Directorate, as part of children education program aiming at raising children’s awareness regarding disaster risks which will ensure safe conduct and develop a security culture.

Pupils could compete in the following categories: art works and literary works of pupils from grade 1-4, and art works and literary works of pupils from grade 5-8

The topics were related to natural and man-made accidents and disasters occurring in Croatia and in the world and emergency services response in these situations.

A commission of experts decided on three works to be awarded in each category.

Patricija Lukić, pupil from the grade 3 of the elementary school “Ivan Perkovac” from Šenkovec was awarded first place in the category Art works from grade 1-4.

Anton Bilić, fourth-grade pupil of the “Turnić” elementary school from Rijeka was the best in the category of Literary works from grade 1-4.

The category of Art works from grade 5-8 was marked by seventh-graders, the best among them being Katarina Jurenec of the “Koprivnica Đuro Ester” elementary school.

First place in the category of Literary works from grade 5-8 went to Jakov Piplica, eighth grade pupil of the Cavtat elementary school from “Cavtat”.

The awards to pupils and merit awards to their teachers were presented by Mr Trut and Mr Filipović.

The great response numbering over 2 000 art and literary works related to disaster topics show ever greater awareness of the young generation regarding disasters threatening Croatia and the world, as well as the role of emergency protection and rescue services in prevention and disaster risk reduction and mitigation.

Download the full press release prepared by the Croatian National Protection and Rescue Directorate

The second annual Croatian Platform Conference, held on 14 and 15 October 2010 at the Croatian Military Academy in Zagreb, gathered representatives of central state administration bodies, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, companies and public corporations, non-governmental organizations dealing with protection against disasters and protection of the environment and representatives from religious communities. Thirty-seven papers on disaster risk reduction were presented at the Conference.

Among the main topics that were discussed at the conference are: management in emergency situations, science in reducing disaster risk, climate change, raising awareness on hazards and safety culture development (education, role of media, promotional activities), early warning and capacity development for response to emergency situations and disasters, international cooperation in disaster risk reduction

The Republic of Croatia has established a national platform for disaster risk reduction as a permanent forum for the exchange of opinions and presentation of views, proposals and achievements regarding Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in all areas of human activity. The goal of the Platform is to provide guidance in integrating DRR in state policies and raising awareness of safety culture primarily through education. 

At the end of the second Croatian Platform Conference, Margareta Wahlström, the UN Assistant Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, expressed her satisfaction with the organization and quality of the Croatian Platform while stressing the importance and necessity of education of populations, as well as prevention in order to minimize consequences of natural disasters.

The conclusions of the conference highlighted the following items:

• Further strengthening of cooperation, strategic planning and management of natural disaster risk reduction is necessary
• The Croatian Platform should evolve into national mechanism able to ensure coordination and support to all involved in disaster risk reduction
• Additional support should be provided to all national actors in the field of natural disaster risk reduction
• It is necessary to strengthen the 112 system within the National Protection and Rescue Directorate and to link all emergency services to the single European emergency 112 call number. Efforts should be made to modernize the early warning systems -  hydrological, meteorological and seismic - in terms of real-time collection and dissemination of information
• Awareness of the public and the media should be raised as to the early warning system and the single European emergency 112 call number
• It is necessary to invest more in climate mapping, forecasting and analysis so as to plan adequate adaptation measures in risk-exposed sectors
• It is necessary to improve the awareness of the public on existing hazards and disaster risks through common education initiatives involving all relevant national institutions and organisations
• The awareness of local authorities on disaster response and disaster risk reduction should be raised in view to ensure proper protection of populations, property and the environment. Local authorities should be enabled to set up local protection and rescue forces
• Participants support further strengthening of all DRR activities in all sectors and with all actors, in particular international cooperation activities either at bilateral or wider international level.

Croatian National Protection and Rescue Directorate

The Croatian National Protection and Rescue Directorate is partner of the EU-funded “Safe Quake” project - Improvement of the population’s post-disaster behavior living in urban areas with high seismic risk - together with the Romanian General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations and the Bulgarian Civil Protection Directorate.

The main objective of the project is to assess the level of earthquake preparedness of the population. . Civil Protection experts from the participating institutions will assess the current earthquake preparedness level of the populations of the participating countries anddefine a common approach on how to raise the awareness of citizens and vulnerable groups on the actions to be taken in the aftermath of an earthquake. The Safe Quake project  will also produce a concise statement on the basic rules of behavior by the population after an earthquake which will be based on the experience of the teams involved in the search and rescue operations.

Following the approval of the SAFE QUAKE project in September 2009, Croatia established the national project team and started preparing the first project actions:  . drafting the population surveys questionnaire, selecting the survey companies and designing the project web page.

The project activities were officially kicked off in Brussels in January 2010. According to the Croatian National Protection and Rescue Directorate the work program, despite some minor delays, is being carried out in a very professional manner by all the partners.

A meeting in Bucharest was held in May 2010 to finalise the need analysis  questionnaire for the Population and for the Rescue Teams and to kick off the surveys. After the completion of the survey in the three countries, a meeting was organized in Zagreb on 11-12 October 2010 by the Croatian National Protection and Rescue Directorate to “evaluate the survey results”. The meeting was attended by the representatives of the Romanian, Bulgarian and Croatian Civil Protections.

The discussions during the meeting led to the conclusion that the public should be better informed on the proper behavior after an earthquake and therefore  the national civil protection authorities should plan media campaigns on this matter. The results of the surveys indicated the availability of the populations and to help search and rescue teams in the case of an earthquake, yet meeting participants concluded  that they need to be trained on how to do that first. National project teams also discussed the impact of the participation by the population to the post earthquake search and rescue operations. A common conclusion on this point was not reached.

One of the next project actions is the seminar planned in Bucharest for the next 24 -26 November. During the event project partners will present their positions on the awareness raising priorities identified through the national surveys. In this occasion, the Romanian partner will propose a set of recommendations on how to deal with awareness raising issues regarding earthquake preparedness of the population. These recommendations are intended to prepare the ground for a common approach on these issues and to provide a set of shared guidelines for integrating awareness raising actions in national civil protection policies.