FloodsCould devastating floods help Bosnians heal their war wounds?
The violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the subsequent war in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995 took the lives of more than 100,000 Bosnians and left two million homeless. Two decades later those survivors have been forced once again to abandon their homes — this time by floodwaters rather than bullets. The heaviest rainfalls ever recorded in the Balkans have led to catastrophic flooding in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Swelled by weeks of rain, the devastating floodwaters swamped more than 60 percent of the country last month, destroying more than 100,000 homes and displacing around 950,000 citizens. The floods also damaged vital infrastructure, destroyed industrial assets, and killed livestock. It is difficult to find a ray of light in this grim story of disaster, except this: Over the past weeks, media outlets have been flooded with stories and images of bravery, camaraderie, and community spirit where ethnicity suddenly became irrelevant. It remains to be seen how this feeling of camaraderie and community can be harvested to mobilize the people of Bosnia ahead of the general elections in October. Such a movement would have the potential to force corrupted political elites into the corner by draining them of their political capital.
The heaviest rainfalls ever recorded in the Balkans have led to catastrophic flooding in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Swelled by weeks of rain, the devastating floodwaters swamped more than 60 percent of the country last month, killing twenty-four people, destroying more than 100,000 homes, and displacing around 950,000 citizens. The floods also damaged vital infrastructure, destroyed industrial assets, and killed livestock. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s preliminary estimate put the damage bill at about 1.3 billion euros.
The emotional cost is harder to calculate. The violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the subsequent war in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995 took the lives of more than 100,000 Bosnians and left two million homeless. Two decades later those survivors have been forced once again to abandon their homes — this time by floodwaters rather than bullets.
Adding to the misery of ordinary Bosnians, the murky floodwaters have washed up old military hardware such as hand grenades and landmines. More disturbingly, they appear to have unearthed the skeletal remains of some of the thousands of people who went missing during the four-year conflict.
The floods have clearly reawakened the trauma experienced by survivors of the conflict among Bosnians at home and members of the large diaspora around the globe. Yet they also appear to have re-united communities which had been divided on ethnic and religious lines since the war.
Unity of people re-emerges
Over the past weeks media outlets have been flooded with stories and images of bravery, camaraderie, and community spirit where ethnicity suddenly became irrelevant. “Serbs”, “Bosniaks,” and “Croats” have become “people.” The appearance of volunteer brigades, particularly those made up of students, which travelled across the Inter-Entity Boundary Line, also seemed reminiscent of the old Yugoslav doctrine of “brotherhood and unity.”
While brotherhood in post-conflict Bosnia is a nostalgic illusion, the term unity has recently made a new appearance in public discourse. Many people affected by the floods over the past fortnight have been forced into inter-ethnic contact, either accepting help or offering it to those in life-threatening situations.
