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Flooding has assumed an increasingly high profile in public policy in the United Kingdom. Institutional responsibilities have been changed, investment has been increased in infrastructure and research, more attention is given to preventing development in flood plains and improved warning systems have been introduced. This paper provides a short explanatory overview with reference to experience of catastrophic events in 1953, 1998 and 2000, and increased scientific understanding, particularly, about changing flood risk with climate change.

The authors point to the great weather varieties in Bulgaria, which enable delineation of 5 climatic areas. The climatic specificities of Bulgaria cause the occurrence of extreme weather events such as storms, hurricanes, tornados, extreme cold spells and ice-formation, torrential rains, floods, unusually warm spells, dry spells, etc. The report analyzes the causes and magnitude of disasters occurring for a three-year period (2001 – 2003) and which posed environmental and population risk. The role and place of the forces and resources of the Civil Protection Service, the ministries and other agencies for addressing the aftermath and curtailing environmental risk and population casualties are highlighted.

A short history of the major abnormal weather phenomena that occurred in Romania in 2002 is described in this short article. Although perhaps less harmful then in the rest of the continent and mainly local or in small regions, their unusual frequency and rapacity stimulated the local people to call the year 2002 a year of “calamities”. During all the extreme weather events, local Disasters Defense Committees are created to minimize losses, to repair the damages, but mainly to help local people with supplies, medicine, safe drinking water and hospitalization. The general health measures in cases of disasters are presented. They are classified as applied on-place and in-hospitals. The specific emergency measures discussed in this chapter include: drinking water, water and sewerage infrastructure, chemical hazards as well as other implications. Finally, two important education problems are mentioned which were put in evidence by the inappropriate behaviour of the population under calamities and the rather poor efficiency of the medical personnel in case of disasters.

Long dry and hot summers are traditional in Uzbekistan, thus the population has developed effective measures against the effects of heat.

Floods and mudflows are difficult to forecast and very dangerous.

Alongside organisational measures such as resettlement of populations to safe areas from the dam construction sites and strengthening of the river banks, it became necessary to form an effective medical emergency service, which is a multi-branch system and is able to provide medical aid to the population in cases of natural disasters.

In the case of limited resources it is expedient to form the medical divisions of rescue of the population on the basis of existing medical establishments.

Uniting medical institutions into a single medical structure providing an Emergency Medical Assistance increases management efficiency and continuity of evacuation thus saving lives of the victims.

The Moscow extreme event in Summer 2002 was not marked by a strong heat-wave, as seen in Europe during 2000 – 2003, although three-to-four heat-waves (temperature 28 – 32 °C) lasting for four to six days each were observed. The main cause of concern was the presence of a haze and a smell of burning for many days together with high concentrations of pollutants produced by the forest and peat bog fires and industrial and vehicle emission. Due to the lack of appropriate and timely data on health outcomes of the smog at that time, the Ministry of Health and the Moscow Authority asked the Institute of Human Ecology and Environmental Hygiene to evaluate quickly possible adverse health effects caused by the smog. The information was needed for further decision-making in an effort to overcome the consequences of the smog. The present article describes the adverse health effects that the pollutants of concern may cause, and presents measured pollutant concentrations and evaluated adverse health outcomes of the smog air pollution.

As stated above, the Classification is designated for the purpose of medical screening and surveillance for the occupational lung diseases. However, the set of classification included in this book will give assistance also in clinical diagnosis of the occupational lung diseases. Wide application of the Classification is expected for further understanding of prevalence, prognosis and complications of the occupational lung diseases.

Severe floods, windstorms, heat-waves and cold-waves have caused dramatic political, social, environmental and health consequences in Europe over the past few years. In response to these events, ministries of health and other public health authorities, along with national and international meteorological services and organizations, are focusing increased attention on developing appropriate strategies and measures to prevent health effects from extreme weather and climate events in the future. Efforts are being made to understand the lessons learnt from recent events, to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures taken and early warning systems in place, and to use the knowledge gained to target future activities. The recent events have also increased interest in whether the intensity and frequency of future extreme weather and climate events could be expected to change as one result of a changing climate.

With this in mind, a working group organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Environment Agency (EEA) has made the following recommendations.

1. The political, social, environmental and health consequences of extreme weather events have increased in Europe in recent years. We recognize that the climate is already changing, and that the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, such as floods, heat-waves and cold-waves, may change in the future. These events will continue to pose additional challenges to current and future populations, in terms of health risk management and the reliability of infrastructure, including health services, power supply and others.

2. There is a need for ministries of health and other ministries to recognize that actions must be taken to reduce the current and future burden of disease due to extreme weather and climate events and to include the prevention of health effects due to weather and climate extremes among national health priorities.

3. We urge ministries of health and other ministries, as well as research institutions, to improve our understanding of the regional and national burden of disease due to weather and climate extremes and to identify effective and efficient interventions, such as early warning systems, surveillance mechanisms and crisis management.

4. We urge effective and timely coordination and collaboration among public health authorities, meteorological services and agencies (national and international), emergency response agencies and civil society in developing local, regional and national monitoring and surveillance systems for the rapid detection of extreme weather events and their effects on public health; developing civil emergency and intervention plans, including activities to prevent morbidity and mortality due to weather and climate extremes; and improving public awareness of extreme weather events, including actions that can be taken at individual, local, national and international levels to reduce impacts.

5. We call on WHO, through its European Centre for Environment and Health, in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization, the European Commission, EEA and other relevant organizations, to support these commitments and to coordinate international activities to this end. In particular, there is a need to develop guidelines for estimating the burden of disease due to weather and climate extremes; to develop indicators for intercountry and intracountry comparison and monitoring of progress; to coordinate the development of new methods, including sentinel monitoring and surveillance systems, to provide timely information on the health impacts of weather and climate extremes at the European level; to develop and evaluate more effective and efficient interventions, such as early warning systems, to reduce negative impacts; and to harmonize interventions across regions and countries to facilitate the sharing of data and lessons learnt.

Floods are the most common natural disaster in Europe. The adverse human health consequences of flooding are complex and far-reaching: these include drowning, injuries, and an increased incidence of common mental disorders. Anxiety and depression may last for months and possibly even years after the flood event and so the true health burden is rarely appreciated. Effects of floods on communicable diseases appear relatively infrequent in Europe. The vulnerability of a person or group is defined in terms of their capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of a natural hazard. Determining vulnerability is a major challenge. Vulnerable groups within communities to the health impacts of flooding are the elderly, disabled, children, women, ethnic minorities, and those on low incomes. There is a need for more good-quality epidemiological data before vulnerability indices can be developed. With better information, the emphasis in disaster management could shift from post-disaster improvisation to pre-disaster planning. A comprehensive, risk-based emergency management program of preparedness, response, and recovery has the potential to reduce the adverse health effects of floods, but there is currently inadequate evidence of the effectiveness of public health interventions