WEEK 32 July 30th to August 5th 2001

   POLAND: 30 DEAD AND 12000 EVACUATED IN PROLONGED FLOODS

   30 people are dead and 12000 are evacuated in Poland after floods and storms lasting weeks. The attempts to dig protective "river" banks have been quite unsuccessful. Five of the banks protecting major populated areas broke Monday after weeks of rain and floods and storms. Relief efforts have been able to delay the worst effects of the bad weather, but not stop them. The army and volunteers have worked nonstop without actually stopping anything.
   A disaster of this magnitude, though occasionally happening has been rare in Europe until the final years of the twentieth century. Just like in York, Great Britain last year the magnitude and prolonged effect, if not the actual occurrence itself, is ascribed the human created Global Warming.
   - What we see here and have seen the last decade is a small, but insufficient view of the future, a representative of the UN environmental program, UNEP is stating.- The number of environmental refugees has been increasing steadily in recent years, but the question is where they should go. Many of the places they're headed for are also susceptible to the gathering forces of nature.

  

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