CZECH PRESS PHOTO
Floods in Central Europe

Czech Press Photo is a yearly photographic contest in the Czech Republic. The photographs in this exhibition represent a selection of the best pictures from the 2002 contest as well as from the previous years as seen in the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia.

Members of the International Jury of the eight Czech and Slovak photojournalistic competition Czech Press Photo 2002 are leading personalities in the area of journalism from nine different countries: Germany, France, USA, Italy, Russia, Hungary, Slovakia, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. The Jury awarded prizes in 16 different categories of the competition as well as the main prize - Photo of the Year. The Lord Mayor of Prague grants one year of a creative scholarship, other prices are decided by the directors of Canon, Nikon and Sony as well as by the Children's Jury of the Czech UNICEF Committee and the public itself.

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Not in our written history had so much water flooded under Prague's historic Charles Bridge. Not since 1432 has there been a flood of a similar magnitude. When the water receded, 17 lives had been lost, more than 200000 people had been evacuated from their homes, mostly around the Elbe and Vltava rivers - 50 000 in Prague alone. The mud-trail of destruction caused some 3.5 billion US Dollars in damage; 1000 houses had collapsed or had to be destroyed; cultural land-marks belonging to the UNESCO World Heritage list were damaged.

The floods that devastated land-marks in the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia and other countries in Central Europe last August did not come out of a clear sky. Meteorological extremes and floods causing considerable damage are a new phenomenon in the region. Consistent with the presumed effects of "global warming," studies at Masaryk University show that the frequency and intensity of extreme weather situations are on the rise.

The Central Europe flood catastrophe is not an isolated phenomenon. Floods in more than 80 countries caused hardship for more than 17 million people world-wide in the first half of 2002, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Almost 3 000 people had lost their lives while property damage amounted to over 30 billion US Dollars. The total area affected by floods was over 8 million square kilometers, almost the size of the United States of America.

In spite of the efforts of over 40 000 Czech professional and voluntary rescue workers it took several months to overcome the damage caused to traffic, electricity and gas supply, telephone communications and pollution of the water courses.

Since then, Central Europe, including the Czech capital of Prague and other popular tourist centres, is returning to normal. Hotels, accommodation and spa facilities, the infrastructure and services in the majority of regions are working normally.

Restoration efforts were and still are required to deal with the damage to the cultural heritage sites including those on UNESCO's word heritage list, like the old Prague City Centre and the historic town of Cesky Krumlov as well as the restoration of its museums, libraries and archives.

The whole Czech Republic thanks most cordially all governments, legal entities, foundations and people around the world for the aid and assistance provided to the country in connection with the floods. Every visit to a historical site of our country represents aid and support to the country.