We cordially invite you to the exhibit
CZECH PRESS PHOTO
Floods in Central Europe
www.czechpressphoto.cz

Exhibit at the UN Headquarters in New York, organized by the Office of the President of the General Assembly, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and the UN Department of Public Information.

Contest and Exhibit
Czech Journalistic Photographs

Weekdays from 9am -5pm
Saturdays and Sundays from 10am-5pm
Visitor's Lobby
UN Headquarters New York
Please present your Photo ID at the UN Visitors' entrance, First Avenue at 46th Street

How Can You Find Us?>>

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.

APPEAL TO HELP !

Those who want to help with the reconstruction of Prague buildings damaged by the floods can write checks made out to: the EECE Ltd and deposit them with the Office of the President of the UN General Assembly.

East European Cultural Endowment Ltd., USA (USA Tax ID No. 13-3478663, incorporated in NYS. E-mail: eeceltd@netzero.net ) was incorporated in 1986 as the USA sister organization of the East European Cultural Foundation, a registered charity in Great Britain. The primary function of the US Endowment is to stimulate and support low-cost hish-impact projects in the area of culture, education, labour, civil and human rights, democratic institution building and transitional justice in Central and Eastern Europe.

Floods in Central Europe

Not in our written history had so much water flooded under Prague's historic Charles Bridge as it did during August 2002. When the water had receded, 17 lives had been lost, more than 200,000 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 in damage; 1,000 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.