Joint efforts of the Euro-Carpathian countries on flood prevention and response Vasyl Lutsko Deputy Minister The Ministry of Environmental Protection UKRAINE

Location of Ukraine

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The analysis of many years fluctuation of river effluent with application of investigation records for years, indicates presence of regular interchange of high and low water cycles in Carpathian region (watersheds of Tisza, Dnister and Pruth rivers) and also partly at critical territories, in that case the duration of these cycles is accordingly and 9-13 years.

In 20-th century the cycles of high and low water with repeated floods, followed by land slides and mud flows, were observed in , , The most significant floods at these periods covered at a time the territory of several oblasts (1927, 1941, 1969,1970).

Flood in Zakarpatje in 1998

Significant material loss in 1998 was caused to Ukraine by the most destructive in its history flood in Zacarpatje. In the result of which the economy of oblast had record losses, size of which greatly exceeds its total annual budget. 720 km of roads were destroyed, 18 diversion facilities and 22 sewerage systems were put of action, 32 bridges were destroyed or damaged. Extremely big loss was caused to housing of oblast ( of dwellings were flooded, damaged and need to be repaired).

Flood in Zakarpatje in 2001

Because of March 2001 flood 255 of settlements and dwellings were flooded among them were destroyed and were damaged, more then persons were temporarily resettled of settlements were out of power supply and 75 telephone exchange stations were cut. Some sections of roads and railways were undergone the destructive influence of flood and mud flows.

Catastrophic floods - is the problem not only of Zakarpatje and Ukraine itself. It's the problem of the same acuity to Hungary, Romania, Poland, Slovakia and other countries. This great trouble is common concern for our countries and its absolutely sound to search jointly the ways of solving that complex issue.

Dyke failure

Waterside structure complexes of countries located in the watershed of Tisza - Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia, where criterion of flood formation and passage are almost the same as in Ukraine, don't create entire flood preventing system.

State officials responsible for water management from Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Ukraine were met in Uzhgorod in February 1998 to analyze the causes of November 1998 flood at Tisza river and to define preventive measures on elimination of its catastrophic consequences. The Sides expressed their design to develop four-sided co-operation in the field of flood prevention, in particular, on issues of joint information and measuring system of monitoring, data processing for flood preparedness and prognosis.

On 25 May 2001 there was conducted a Water Management Forum on the problems of flood management in the Tisza river basin. According to the results of the Forum the Budapest Declaration was adopted, stating the fact of establishing of the Tisza Basin Water Management Forum as a permanent body for coordination of flood management cooperation. The Declaration serves as a prerequisite for gradual transformation of bilateral cooperation based on the territorial principle into pentalateral, based on shared catchment area principle.

The participants have defined the elaboration of general Concept of flood protection in the Tisza basin as the primary task of the Forum. Based on the Concept further general programs and projects will be developed, they are expected to be financed from national and international resources.

As a part of implementation of the Budapest Declaration in terms of the activities of the Tisza Basin Water Management Forum, in July 2001 in the Hungarian city of Debrecen the first meeting of national coordinators of Hungary, Romania, Slovak Republic, Ukraine and Yugoslavia was convened in order to discuss practical issues related to the elaboration of the Concept of comprehensive flood prevention in the Tisza basin. The most critical parts of the Concept were discussed during this meeting. The participating countries have approved a stepwise schedule of Concept elaboration as well as organizational and technical aspects of work of national coordinators and working groups.

NATO HQ

In June 1999 during-the third meeting of the Joint NATO- Ukraine Committee on Civil Emergency Planning the Ukrainian side proposed launching of a joint regional project. The main objective of the Project is improvement of flood preparedness and response system in the Carpathian region, including Zakarpatska, Lvivska, Chemovitska and Ivano-Frankivska oblasts of Ukraine. Starting from August 2001the first implementation phase of the Project was launched.

In terms of the Project it was planned to conduct the following measures of upgrading the level of flood preparedness in the region: - to conduct overall assessment of natural and technological hazards in the region with an emphasis on hydro-meteorological events, assessment of high-risk vicinities and categories of population, regional capabilities assessment (plans, procedures and infrastructure) and ways of their augmentation taking into consideration the existing projects in the region; - defining the optimal data processing procedures in the region (hydro-meteorological network, hydrological and hydraulic modeling); - creation of prognosis network for further improvement of the flood response system and upgrading the level of preparedness in the region.

The central aim of the Project is creation of effective response system and upgrading the level of flood preparedness in the Carpathian region. This will help to mitigate the negative consequences of natural disasters and improve the efficiency of coordination of efforts both within the critical region, and beyond its borders.

Implementation of the Project will allow for timely information based on the exact data of the hydro- meteorological network., satellite imagery and modeling, and development of new information programs (landslide susceptibility maps, most vulnerable territories, economical losses). All this will result in state-of-the-art decision-support information for emergency response and population protection in the Carpathian region.

The Government of Ukraine has approved the Program of Complex Floods Protection in the Tisza basin of Zakarpatje region for during the meeting on October, This Program is based on the General Scheme for the Hydro- Technical Protective Facilities System Building. The Program includes the forecasting calculations until 2015.

Ukraine - Switzerland Cooperation

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