If there is any silver lining to the devastating earthquakes that hit nine northern Croatian counties in March and December 2020, one of them would certainly be the UCPM co-funded project Operational Forces of Civil Protection for the Protection of Cultural Heritage: CP for Heritage. The earthquakes, most gravely impacting the capital of Zagreb and the towns of Sisak and Petrinja, damaged more than 900 individually listed heritage buildings, as well as numerous heritage buildings within the cultural and historic areas of the city of Zagreb.
The disasters struck during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, rendering emergency response and damage assessment that much more challenging. The on-site emergency response naturally involved both heritage professionals and civil protection services, revealing in the process not only strengths, but also weaknesses of both actors. To enhance existing capacities and build new ones – while also encouraging cross-sectoral cooperation and raising awareness of the importance of cultural heritage protection – several initiatives were undertaken, one of which being the Operational Forces of Civil Protection for the Protection of Cultural Heritage project, led by the Civil Protection Directorate of the Ministry of Interior, with the Ministry of Culture and Media as associated partner.
This article shares the measures undertaken and the progresses achieved through the implementation of this project. In PROCULTHER-NET 2 Project. Technical Bulletin N. 6, November 2025, pp 44 – 51. KEYWORDS: cultural heritage, earthquakes, regulatory frameworks, national capacities, knowledge transfer.
Hazard types
Geographic focus
Sectors