Bandić soon backtracked on his opposition to financing rebuilding and remained optimistic in his statements about recovery from the earthquake. However, reconstruction had not yet begun by the time of Bandić's death, and many people were still living in severely damaged buildings months later. In Donji grad, cultural heritage regulations created additional red tape for affected citizens. The authorities estimated that 20,000 people, or more than half of residents of Donji grad had moved out of their homes by the middle of April, and scaffolding protecting pedestrians from falling masonry began to be erected only in 2021. Bandić was criticised for spending millions on projects such as Snow Queen Trophy and decorative lighting while reducing allocation of funds for repairs of schools and other public buildings, and spending city money on uncoordinated duplication of residents' own renovation efforts. The city was also affected by a flash flood in July where citizens forced open an unstaffed dam to drain the city, and a stronger earthquake in nearby Petrinja area in December which, per Bandić's estimate, caused 20 times less damage to Zagreb than the March earthquake. The city did not release precise information on the extent of damages in Zagreb from the flood and the Petrinja earthquake, though Bandić pledged financial assistance to earthquake victims in Petrinja, where the City of Zagreb had earlier built school infrastructure while Petrinja's mayor was a member of BM365. One of the people involved in protests against Bandić was filmmaker Dario Juričan, who legally changed his name to Milan Bandić and ran in the 2019–20 presidential election as the self-proclaimed "evangelist of corruption", coming in fifth with 4.61% of the vote. In 2020, he created a documentary film, "Kumek", about Bandić's scandals.