State Secretary for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Zdenko Lucić, together with representatives of the Civil Protection Directorate in charge of dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake, welcomed on Friday in Lekenik a humanitarian aid convoy from Baden-Württemberg. This was the third convoy to arrive from that German state and included 18 containers and one ambulance donated by the Red Cross of Müllheim.
Lucić applauded the excellent coordination among numerous Croatian cultural and sport associations of Baden-Württemberg, friendship groups, individuals – both Croatian and German, Croatian catholic missions, German cities and municipalities, the Government of Baden-Württemberg headed by Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann and Interior Minister Thomas Strobel, who made great efforts to collect and organize assistance, shown a lot of heart and offered considerable support for the quake-hit areas of Croatia.
Organized by the former deputy chief of the Baden-Württemberg fire brigade Gerhard Lai, four days after the earthquake the first convoy of 12 trucks arrived in Sisak-Moslavina, including two donated fire engines. The second convoy consisted of 23 trucks and transportation vans, as well as three donated fire engines.
To date, numerous Croatian associations of Baden-Württemberg, Croatian catholic missions, as well as German cities, municipalities and friends of Croatia have organized collection and shipment of humanitarian aid.
The Croats of Stuttgart, together with the Croatian Cultural Community of Stuttgart, FC Croatia Stuttgart and the Croatian Catholic Missions of Stuttgart Mitte and Bad Cannstatt have gathered more than 60 tons and dispatched three trucks and six transportation vans worth of aid.
Thanks to the Croatian Cultural Community of Stuttgart, six campers, 10 electric generators and 20 heaters have been bought.
The Vila Croatia Association, together with the Croatian Association of Böblingen, the Croatian Catholic Mission of Ludwigsburg and associations from Schwarzwald, have gathered four trucks, 15 transportation vans and five cars with trailers worth of aid.
Motorcycle club Gromovi from Stuttgart has collected funds for one transportation van with trailer worth of aid, donated to the Petrinja motorcycle club.
The Town of Mengen has sent 11 firefighters with four fire engines, as well as earthquake and demolition experts.
The Town of Aichtal and the local Croats have collected four trucks worth of firefighting equipment, food boxes, hygiene packages and clothing.
In Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and the surrounding towns, the collection of aid was organized by the Croatian-German Society of Mannheim and FC Croatia Mannheim, who have dispatched three trucks and five transportation vans worth of aid.