Fundusze Unijne
Publications in year 1998

Vol. 12, Issue 4



Natural and anthropogenic causes and effects of floods and other disastrous events in Poland

International Agrophysics
Year : 1998
Volumen : 12
Issue : 4
Pages : 285 - 293
  PDF 253.52 KB
Authors: R. Dębicki1,2

1Department of Soil Science, University of Maria Curie-Skłodowska, Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin, Poland
2Institute of Agrophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Doświadczalna 4, 20-290 Lublin, Poland
Abstract :

A b s t r a c t. Analysis of natural and anthropogenic causes and effects of floods in Poland is presented in this paper. In general, the flood of 1997 showed that Poland needs, above all, long-term concept for the land development in the basins of the Oder and Vistula, effective legal regulations and development of the hydrotechnical infrastructure. The disastrous flood 1997 made it clear that social and economic losses would have been much smaller if Poland had had a modern measuring, preventing and warning systems, and also proper hydrotechnical edifices, and if the flood prevention infrastructure was in a good condition. It should also be stressed that more attention should be paid to research programmes to improve the system of flood prevention and reduction of damages. Activities undertaken so far with the aim to find the best protection measures and solutions for the flooded areas in Poland can be summered as follows: (i) recording of the effects of the flood; (ii) creation of theNational Programme for the Reconstruction and Modernisation of the Flooded Areas, and (iii) undertaking interdisciplinary discussions (researchers, engineers, practitioners, etc.) to select the most urgent and necessary actions for future to avoid similar disasters.

Keywords : flood 1997, causes, effects, research programmes, future tasks
Language : English