1979 Montenegro earthquake

1979 Montenegro earthquake ( _sr. "Crnogorski zemljotres iz 1979. godine") was the most devastating earthquake on the territory of present-day Montenegro, then part of Communist Yugoslavia. Not only did it strike Montenegro, but Albania as well. sr icon [http://www.vijesti.co.me/index.php?id=276723 Crnogorski zemljotres ukroćen u Skoplju] , Vijesti]

Earthquake

The earthquake, which measured 8 on the Richter scalesr icon [http://www.seismo.cg.yu/1979.html Zemljotres od 15. aprila 1979. godine] ] , 9 /11.5 on the Mercalli intensity scale and 7.4 on the Surface wave magnitude, occurred on April 18th 1979 at 06:19 or 06:30en icon [http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001472/147207eo.pdf Montenegro Earthquake: The Conservation of the Historic Monuments and Art Treasures] , 1984, UNESCO] UTC (07:19/07:30 local time), fifteen kilometers from the Montenegrin coast between Bar and Ulcinj. The tremor lasted for ten seconds and was mostly felt along the Montenegrin and Albanian coastline.

Aftermath

Damage

Budva's Old Town, one of Montenegro's Cultural Heritage Site, was heavily devastated. Of the 400 buildings in Budva's Old Town, 8 remained unscathed from the earthquake. The 15th century walls and ramparts protecting the Old Town were severely damaged as well. Praskvica Monastery, located between Milocer and Sveti Stefan in the Budva Municipality, suffered greatly too. The church inside the monastery had all but totally collapsed, whereas the frescoes in the monastery were completey damaged.

The walls surrounding Stari Bar had suffered very little damage from the earthquake,in comparision to the Aqueduct in Stari Bar which was completely destroied.

Herneg Novi, the youngest town on the Montenegrin coast, suffered heavily as well. Parts of the walls of Herceg Novi's Old Town fell into the Adriatic.

Ulcinj's Old Town, another Montenegrin Cultural Heritage Site, was almost totally devastated. The centuries old Balsic Tower in Ulcinj nearly collapsed as a result of the earthquake.

Over 450 villages were razed to the ground. In addition, many villages in the regions of Crmnica, Grbalj, Krajina and Pastrovici were in danger of near total collapse.

Further inland, Cetinje, Danilovgrad, Niksic and Montenegro's capital city, Titograd (present Podgorica) were damaged as well, but not as severely.

According to a 1984 UNESCO report, a total of 1,487 objects were damaged, nearly half of which consisted of households and another forty percent consisting of churches and other sacred properties. Only thirty percent of the 1,487 objects damaged were destroyed. Over 1,000 cultural monuments were suffered, as well as thousands of works of art and valuable collections.

By the end of the catastrophe, 427 people had died in Montenegro and 11 in Albania and over 100,000 people were left homeless.

Aid and Relief

Days after the earthquake, $30,000 was made available immediately for aid work and restoration of disaster areas. On 28 May 1979, the Director-General of UNESCO issued a world-wide appeal for donations to help the nation recover for the devastation as the federal budget was insufficient for aid funding.

Several months later, in October 1979, the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO decided to list the Natural and Culturo-historical Region of Kotor in the "World Heritage List" and in the "List of World Heritage in Danger".

UNESCO, through ICCROM, aided the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Cetinje for the restoration of frescoes in the "Church of the Virgin" in Podlastva Monastery. Similar help was given for the restoration of the "Church of Alexander Nevsky" on the island of Sveti Stefan.

First estimates of the cost of damaged cultural property was about 10,527,690,000 Yugoslav dinars, which is just under 15% of the total earthquake damage. 1984 inflation rates put that amount at about 3,174,098,500,000 Yugoslav Dinars, equaling to 31,700,000,000 US Dollars. The Yugoslav Government agreed to pay 81.839% of the total estimated cost of damaged cultural property, whereas the remaining 18.161% to be paid by the local municipalities. To help meet the total costs of the disaster, the Government had set up a statutory fund whereby each worker contributes 1% of his monthly income in a ten year period, from 1979 to 1989.

Till September 1st 1983, the Government had budgeted for a total expenditure of 54,722,849,000 Dinars, of which 3.69% or 21,023,620,800 Dinars were allocated for cultural property.

By 1984, Montenegro was still under restoration, the entire Montenegrin coast, especially Budva and Kotor, and Cetinje receiving the heaviest amounts of restoration. Several objects had been fully restored by 1984, including the "Memorial Museum of Jovan Tomasevic" in Bar; "Monastery of St. Vid" and "Church of St. Alexander Nevsky" in Budva; "Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments" (former "Austrian embassy"), "State Museum" (former "Palace of King Nicholas"), "National Gallery" and the "Bishop's House" in Cetinje; the "Archives" and "Gallery of Josip Bepo Benkovic" in Herceg Novi, "Cultural Center" in Kotor, "Church of St. George" in Orahovac (Kotor), "Church of Our Lady" in Krimovice (Kotor), "Church of St. John" in Dub (Kotor), "Church of St. George" in Sisici (Kotor), "Church of St. George" in Sutvara (Kotor), "Church of St. George" in Prijeradi (Kotor), "Church of St. Eustacius" in Dobrota (Kotor), "Church of Our Lady of the Rocks" in Perast (Kotor), "Roman mosaics" in Risan (Kotor) and twelve church buildings in Grbalj (Kotor).

Gallery

References