Vjesnik and Gospić Show Croatia Can Solve Complex Problems When It Has To

The burned Vjesnik building is gone, leaving a cleared site at one of Zagreb’s prominent intersections after a difficult cleanup operation.

More than six months after the building, a symbol of media and journalism, caught fire, the structure was removed from the junction of Savska Street and Slavonska Avenue. The work completed one of the more serious crisis operations in Croatia in recent years.

The demolition carried obvious risks. The building could collapse, and the removal process created additional hazards. Because fires involving such a tall building are rare, specialists and practitioners had limited experience in handling a crisis of this kind. The operation nevertheless ended successfully, with the people involved doing a good job, according to the article.

The Vjesnik cleanup is not directly connected to the proposed remediation of a hazardous-waste site in Lika. The two cases share only the need to find a place for disposing of particular types of waste. Waste from Vjesnik is considered far less dangerous, apart from smaller quantities of asbestos. The article presents the two cases not as praise for the authorities, but as evidence of two fundamental problems Croatia faces.