Danger from old objects: Who is responsible for preventing and reacting?

The sting of an old facility in the village of Jablanica in Gjakova, on February 1st, where three minors lost their lives, is being investigated by the prosecution, which has initiated the case as “Cause of total risk”.

But this prosecutor has not yet disclosed who is precisely being investigated or suspected to be responsible or guilty about the incident.

According to the Gjakova municipality, this abandoned object was built before 1999 and was burned about that year, leaving behind a weak structure that collapsed under unknown circumstances occupying two 15-year-old and a 13-year-old children.

“Being privately owned, the municipality has no powers to take any action regarding the” object, Komuna spokesman Artan Haraqi told Radio Free Europe.

He added that regarding this object, there has been no complaint or plea for its collapse or security, whether by its owner or nearby residents.

The bow also added that “in certain cases when the [communal] inspectors themselves can observe any endangered objects, the owner is contacted and the procedures for the collapse of the” object are explained.

However, according to him, so far there have been no “any extreme case when previously estimated high level of risk of”.

The municipality has also not revealed whether it has compiled or compiled any documents identifying private or public objects with the risk of collapse in this area.

The total “cannot talk about large numbers of such objects, especially in urban areas and in areas inhabited in villages”, Haraqi said.

What Do Laws Say?

Municipal communities or bodies are considered among the first bodies responsible for response and prevention in some cases of natural disasters, including the dangers of collapse.

This issue is regulated by the Law for the Prevention of Natural Disasters, and in particular in the National Response Plan adopted at the end of 2023.

This plan, compiled by the Government, says that the incidents, in general, must be faced by the lowest possible administrative level such as police, firefighters... and other personnel at the local level.

According to this plan, when a current or possible incident has such size and complexity that it is considered a national-type “cincident”, responsibility falls to the central level, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which operates in co-ordination with ministries and other government agencies.

In particular, the plan envisions that the mayor of the municipality is responsible for co-ordinating municipal resources in function of “the distribution of the entire spectrum of actions for prevention, readiness, response and recovery from incidents, including natural disasters and other”.

Capital with 61 homes at risk of collapse

About 90km from Gjakova, as well as Kosovo's capital, Pristina, also faces risks from old objects.

Lulzim Fushtica, director of Emergencys in this municipality, told Free Europe Radio that about a month ago they had identified some 61 houses, some walls, as well as a bar, that threatened to collapse.

He said the municipality makes these assessments every six months and conducted inspections and interventions as needed through various objects.

Fushtica said these actions are carried out based on the Law for Protection From Natural Disasters, although there is no other particular directive that instructs municipalities on how to act in this regard.

Speaking of the REL, Fushtica explained that it usually deals with three categories of endangered objects involving private objects, which have started to build and remain in half, as well as old items considered cultural heritage and are under protection from the central government.

According to him, at private-owned objects, the municipality finds it difficult to intervene.

“On a large part of them, owners are not even in Kosovo and have left objects unattended, and we, under the law, cannot intervene on private property because we risk being indicted”, he stressed.

He added that they usually try to contact the owners to coordinate for the security of the object or even its collapse, if there is a need for intervention from the municipality.

For other categories, the municipality said it intervenes or co-ordinates with relevant institutions for intervention as needed.

He stressed that the Jabllanica case has caused citizens to step up calls to the municipality to present endangered objects.

In addition to Pristina, the identity of dangerous objects has been made by the Decani Community.

In a plan compiled in August 2024, Decani had identified 12 old objects that threatened to collapse, including several towers (traditional old residential houses, mainly built with stones).

In this municipal plan, it has listed several preventative measures to be taken in front of these objects, which include marking to collapse.

So far, this municipality has not answered questions about what actions have been taken against these objects.

In addition to private items, there have been cases in Kosovo when objects under state protection have been destroyed that have been deadly.

A three-year-old girl from Prizren lost her life in 2016 as a result of the collapse of a house located in the historic protected area of this city.

In this case, charges were filed against the municipal director for emergency and security, but Prizren's court acquitted him of the prosecution in 2019.

The Emergency Management Agency has not answered REL questions about whether there is a national plan addressing the risks of destroying objects.

Meanwhile, in the village of Jablanice in Gjakova, the exact circumstances of the object's collapse are unknown.

Victims' family members, but other village residents, have said in public statements they had no indication that the object posed such a big risk of collapse to raise alarms at institutions.

No one in the village talked about it. He was surrounded by wires. He was on the side road, but there was not much movement around him”, Bayrush Brahimaj, resident of Jablanica, told Radio on February 3rd 2025, the day the funeral ceremony was held for minors who lost their lives from the collapse of the old object. / REL/