Krstic and Thunder Help Earthquake Victims

The Thunder and starting center Nenad Krstic, a native of Serbia, came together to raise donations for Serbian earthquake victims.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:01 pm

By: News On 6

Krstic and Thunder Help Earthquake Victims

Originally Published: Nov 11, 2010 8:55 AM CDT

Oklahoma Sports Staff

OKLAHOMA CITY-- Nenad Krstic and the Oklahoma City Thunder raised nearly $10,000 to donate to relief efforts in an area of Serbia that was hit by an earthquake last week.

Krstic’s hometown of Kraljevo was the center of a 5.3-magnitude quake Nov. 3 that took the lives of two people, injured dozens, and damaged thousands of houses and other structures.

The Thunder’s center said "My parents live there, my grandparents, my friends. When I go in the summertime to Serbia, I spend some time over there. I spend some time in Belgrade, but that's my town.”

Krstic and the entire Thunder organization pitched in to bring attention to the people in need and raise donations to help the relief effort.

Everybody’s asking themselves, “Why this now? In the whole world, why here” said Krstic. “We don’t have the history of earthquakes, but it’s all right,”

Krstic said his family made it through the earthquake unhurt but he has been told people back home are still afraid of whether their homes are safe if another quake happens. He said weaker earthquake hit the area Saturday.

"I'm really optimistic because there's a lot of good people in Serbia and in the world that can help and can rebuild,'' Krstic said. "It's not a lot of money you're talking about. Even before, there was really a small town and nothing really expensive. Just build for the regular life.''

The Thunder matched donations from last Sunday night’s game against the Boston Celtics. In addition, an autographed jersey that Krstic wore during the game was raffled off to benefit the cause.

All in all nearly $10,000 will be donated to the International Red Cross to help those affected by the earthquake.

"I'm really trying right now to help, and this is a great thing that the organization did - and the people - and that's a good sign. It doesn't matter how much money we can send. We can let other people do the same thing.''

“It's all right,'' Krstic said."We're going to get through it.''

Watch how Thunder fans pitched in to help.