ENVIRONMENT – CIVIL PROTECTION > UKRAINE
With high water comes high responsibility When disaster strikes, it is usually too late to prepare for www.enpi-info.eu it and the only thing left to do is deal with the consequences. Disasters are best dealt with when citizens, rescue services and volunteers can cooperate with each other, because the behaviour and participation of individuals are key to emergency management. In Ukraine, the EU-funded regional programme for the Prevention, Preparedness and Response to natural and manmade disasters in the ENPI East Region (PPRD East) working in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, has started its awareness campaign in an area that frequently suffers from floods and high water levels. An EU Neighbourhood Info Centre journalist joined the campaign’s launch event in the Novoselitskiy district and has this report. Text by Zhanna Bezpiatchuk Pictures by AFP © EU Neighbourhood INFO CENTRE
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NOVOSELYTSIA – Outside the Ukrainian town of Novoselytsia just a few kilometers from N The river Prut, in Novoselitsiya. the Ukrainian-Romanian border, towards the Prut river, EU expert Svitlana Skrykuliak points and says in a rather matter of fact way: “Here, in 2008, I was forcing my way through on an army tank.” What makes people drive tanks in peacetime? The answer is floods that sweep everything in their way. In the small region of Chernivtsi there are over 4,000 rivers. When heavy rain adds to the high water levels in the rivers, the locals know that a disaster is looming. The latest floods occurred here in 2008 and 2010. In the wake of those experiences, the Ukrainian town is still learning how to face EU Neighbourhood Info Centre a disaster. A lot depends on the willingness of its residents to better Feature no. 113 This is a series of features on prepare for a future emergency.
Preparing before it’s too late Passing through the town, the scale of the threat faced by Novoselytsia is still there for all to see. The meter-high lines etched onto the walls offer a stark reminder of the 2010 flood, as locals have been unable to
projects funded by the EU Regional Programme, prepared by journalists and photographers on the ground or the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre. © 2014 EU Neighbourhood Info Centre