The "One Croatia" initiative was joined by 30-odd organisations of Croats from Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Japan, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Venezuela, and Croatia, the initiative said in a statement.
"The COVID19 pandemic has forced all of us to start communicating via video conferencing. This created an opportunity to bring together Croats from all over the world since we all wanted to help with earthquake relief," said Ivan Grbešić , executive director of the Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce and president of the Croatian Government Advisory Council on Croats living abroad.
"This is the first time that we have witnessed Croats from around the world coming together since the Croatian war of independence in the 1990s," he added.
The "One Croatia" initiative has so far raised $220,000, and the funds are managed by the ACAP Foundation.
“This gives our donors the ability to see transparently how their donation impacts human lives. For example, we are in the process of purchasing an ambulance for Petrinja, an anaesthesia machine for the hospital in Sisak, as well as protective equipment for volunteer structural engineers,” said Mašenjka Katić, vice president of ACAP Zagreb.