Bulgaria's Disaster Relief Fund 80% Depleted

A Thursday sitting of the Bulgarian government's Interdepartmental Commission for Recovery and Assistance showed that a total of 80% of the resources of the Disaster Relief Fund for 2013 had been used up and only 20% were left.

According to reports of the BGNES news agency, the BGN 70 M budget of the Disaster Relief Fund for 2013 had been depleted to the level of BGN 14 M.

The first warning about the fact that the public money earmarked for disasters and breakdowns were running out was given during the term in office of the caretaker government.

On Thursday, the Interdepartmental Commission for Recovery and Assistance adopted decisions for granting over BGN 400 000 to 112 households.

Tsvetlin Yovchev, Bulgaria's Interior Minister and Chair of the Interdepartmental Commission, pointed out that the resources would mainly be granted to the residents of the southwestern town of Pernik, who were stricken by a 5.8-magnitude earthquake on May 22, 2012.

Yovchev explained that applications for financial assistance by people who were unable to pay for the damage caused by the 2012 earthquake were still being reviewed.

Pernik Mayor Rostitsa Yanakieva made clear that the earthquake had caused BGN 25 M worth of damage, adding that the state had already allocated BGN 12 M to disaster relief, meaning that a total of BGN 13 M was necessary.

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