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FROM THE FIELD

13,000 people evacuated after flooding in north & northeast Romania
29 Jul 2008 11:15:48 GMT
 Source: World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe office (MEERO)
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Until flood waters recede authorities and relief agencies like World Vision will not know the complete extent of damage wrecked by the floods.
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Until flood waters recede authorities and relief agencies like World Vision will not know the complete extent of damage wrecked by the floods.
World Vision MEERO, http://meero.worldvision.org

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Some 13,000 people have been evacuated from their homes after 180 communities in eight counties were flooded following heavy rains that fell over north and northeast Romania in the last eight days.

Four people have died and two are still missing. Hundreds of kilometres of county roads and nine national roads have been closed across Maramures, Salaj, Satu Mare, Bistrita-Nasaud, Suceava, Neamt, Botosani, Iasi and Bacau.

Siret and Prut rivers reached their highest levels in 200 years and still pose a significant threat in the four counties of Iasi, Bacau, Botosani, and Neamt.

'We are far from the times when we were caught unprepared,' said Romanian president Basescu.

'We have provided food, drinking water, blankets, oil, sugar and flour to those people that have left their homes or that have been isolated by the waters', he continued.

Collaboration between central and local authorities helped to minimise loss of life and damage, consolidating existing dams and evacuating people in affected areas such as Suceava and Botosani counties where flooding took the greatest toll.

World Vision Romania operates an Area Development Program (ADP) in Iasi County, which was hit by flooding. Its most severely affected commune was Lespezi where 87 houses were damaged, five houses collapsed and some 14 people were left homeless, four of them children. Local authorities are meeting the needs of the affected and are involving churches in the response.

In Pascani, more than 1,000 people were evacuated from their homes on Sunday evening, spending the night in various educational centres but have since been able to return to their homes.

'Until now, we are not seeing major problems in the communities where we are working. A small river in Ceplenita commune in Iasi flooded eight houses in Buhalnita village but the waters have already withdrawn and people have returned to their homes. We evaluated the situation there and met with local authorities and the Community Based Organisation to see how we could help', said Iasi ADP Manager Octavian Filip.

'There is still a potential threat for Golaiesti community if Prut and Jijia rivers continue to rise and World Vision management is assessing whether or not we will intervene and how', he continued.

Until flood waters recede authorities and relief agencies like World Vision will not know the complete extent of damage wrecked by the floods but it is already becoming apparent that water has badly affected those houses constructed with clay and hay bricks – the traditional Romanian home in rural areas.

The Romanian government has promised to provide support for reconstruction and aid for households that have sustained losses and is forming five task groups to assess the damage and formulate a response to assist the affected.

-Ends-


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Last updated:Tue Jul 29 12:01:19 2008