ENGINEERING EXPERTISE ASPECTS DURING DISASTER RESPONSE – A CASE STUDY OF FLOODS IN FBIH

Heavy rainfall-induced floods, landslides and rockfall that befell Jablanica and Buturović polje regions in Bosnia and Herzegovina in October of 2024 caused widespread damage to buildings, roads, bridges, electrical, water supply and gas distribution networks, along with dozens of victims and hundreds of displaced people. Urban search and rescue operations started immediately, with international teams helping the local authorities and population in mitigating the destructive effects of the disaster. In this work, insights and experiences gained during rescue operations are synthesized and shared regarding behaviour of structures during floods and rockfall, including collapse mechanisms observed, damage to buildings, roads, bridges and infrastructural objects etc. Special focus is given to the unique challenges that floods and rockfall present in comparison with earthquake-induced disasters in terms of structural loads, damage patterns and collapse types, as well as differences in impact on terrain configuration, logistical needs and survivability of victims. While many differences are observed in terms of damage patterns in buildings and infrastructure, similar effects are observed when it comes to landslide and liquefaction occurrences. A review is given of the wide variety of typical tasks that engineers may face in areas affected by floods and rockfall, with attention to different tasks proper to structural, geotechnical, hydraulic and transportation engineers. While structural engineers may have a central role in urban areas after damaging earthquakes, in the case of floods and rockfall hydraulic and geotechnical engineering expertise becomes more important to understand the causes, scale and consequences of the disaster, while transportation engineering provides an important role of maintaining the functionality of roads and railways for efficient and safe disaster mitigation strategies.