December 30, 2020 – The application and website LastQuake has not been our best friend this year, we had quite a strong love-and-hate relationship, but after these last earthquakes, Croatian citizens showed their support.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) manages and maintains the website and an amazing application which alerts their followers of the most recent earthquakes. The application and the site were flooded with Croatians in March, after the first series of earthquakes which devastated the capital, and we even managed to crash their systems on several occasions. Croatian Twitter followers of the EMSC profile are even on a first-name basis with someone from the EMSC (here’s me, apologizing to Fred in April:)
We’re sorry, Fred!
(Can we send you some booze or some ćevapi to make up for all the work we’ve been making for you this month?)
— Iva T (@Iva_T) April 23, 2020
And now, after another, even deadlier series of earthquakes in Croatia, the Croatians have found a way to step up and support the application which has managed to become their largest frenemy this year: by donating. There are great needs for support and donations for the devastated regions of Croatia, but some of us have found the need to support LastQuake as well, as Vibor Cipan pointed out on his Twitter profile yesterday evening:
You can donate and support @LastQuake app. It warms my heart to see that all these recent donations are coming from #Croatia! A small country with one big heart. https://t.co/jaxrbq8A6a pic.twitter.com/BiSPF0TKp5
— Vibor Cipan (@viborc) December 29, 2020
It sometimes feels easy not liking Croatians, especially when you’re one doing this work, where you sometimes have to write about the worst of the worst of the people who live here. But sometimes, when things are hard, we manage to show our gratitude, generosity and support in the most unexpected ways, which have to bring a smile to everyone’s face.
Follow our live updates on the situation in the earthquake-hit areas of Croatia here; find out how you can donate here.
