GERMANY: THOUSANDS VACCINATED AGAINST POSSIBLE DISEASE OUTBREAK FOLLOWING SEVERE FLOODS.
Record ID:
649273
GERMANY: THOUSANDS VACCINATED AGAINST POSSIBLE DISEASE OUTBREAK FOLLOWING SEVERE FLOODS.
- Title: GERMANY: THOUSANDS VACCINATED AGAINST POSSIBLE DISEASE OUTBREAK FOLLOWING SEVERE FLOODS.
- Date: 22nd August 2002
- Summary: (U5) DRESDEN, GERMANY (AUGUST 21, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/PAN: BOAT IN THE RIVER ELBE; RIVER AND DAMAGED RIVER BANK (2 SHOTS) 0.16 2. GV/MV/CU: PEOPLE QUEUING UP AT DOCTOR'S SURGERY TO GET INOCULATED; VARIOUS OF PERSON GETTING INJECTION; VACCINES ON THE TABLE (5 SHOTS) 0.49 3. MV: (SOUNDBITE) (German) DOCTOR JOERG WENDISCH, DOCTOR, SAYING: "There were media reports that everybody who has worked in the floods or lives in flooded areas should be vaccinated against hepatitis A. We have to deny this. We believe there is no reason to have everyone vaccinated. Over the past few days we have vaccinated over 2,000 people against hepatitis A". 1.14 4. GV/PAN: RIVER AND BUILDING 1.29 5. GV/MV: STATUES SAVED FROM THE MUSEUM (4 SHOTS) 1.56 6. GV: EXTERIOR SWINGER MUSEUM 2.00 7. GV/MV: PAINTINGS FROM THE MUSEUM SAVED FROM THE FLOODING (2 SHOTS) 2.13 8. GV/MV: MAN PLAYING INSTRUMENT OUTSIDE SEMPER OPERA HOUSE; WOMAN WITH CLOTHES SAVED FROM THE OPERA HOUSE; DESTROYED OFFICES OF THE OPERA HOUSE (5 SHOTS) 2.42 (U5) LUETKENWISCH, GERMANY (AUGUST 16, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 9. VARIOUS: TRUCK DEPOSITING SANDBAGS ON MOTORISED BRIDGE; MOTORISED BRIDGE CARRYING SANDBAGS TO FLOOD RISK AREAS; SANDBAGS ON RIVER BANK; VOLUNTEERS WAITING FOR MOTORISED BRIDGE AND SANDBAGS; RIVER BANK; VOLUNTEERS BUILDING SANDBAG WALL (7 SHOTS) 3.41 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 6th September 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: DRESDEN, LUETKENWISCH, NEAR WITTENBERG, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA8ZD5FUD1HI83DLY2HSU74BLNZ
- Story Text: Thousands of Germans have been innoculated against
disease fearing the aftermath of severe flooding could affect
their health whilst thousands more were evacuated from their
homes to escape floods that have triggered the biggest
operation since World War Two.
Thousands of people in the German city of Dresden, on
the river Elbe, queued up for innoculations against Hepatitis
A on Wednesday (August 21) fearing the floods could bring
disease after the waters recede.
Environmental and health dangers have risen in Germany
where falling water levels in some parts of the country have
revealed animal carcarsses, rotting food and other debris that
could be disease breeding grounds.
There are also concerns regarding the Spolana chemical
plant, in the Czech Republic, which environmentalists fear may
have leaked noxious fluids into the river Elbe which flows
into Germany.
No one was killed in the Spolana chlorine leak, but the
Czech environment ministry said the danger still persisted and
there could be further leaks of dioxins, highly poisonous
chemicals which have contaminated several buildings in Spolana
when they were used in 1960s.
It added that water had flooded two contaminated
buildings, but a flood wall and sandbag barriers would
hopefully contain the substances as water receded. Samples of
the flood water have been taken for analysis.
"There were media reports that everybody who has worked
in the floods or lives in flooded areas should be vaccinated
against hepatitis A. We have to deny this. We believe there is
no reason to have everyone vaccinated. Over the past few days
we have vaccinated over 2,000 people against hepatitis A,"
said Doctor Joerg Wendish.
Floods caused by unusually heavy rain have killed at least
97 people in Germany, Russia, Austria and the Czech Republic
in recent weeks. The floods have driven hundreds of thousands
from their homes, ruined harvests and destroyed buildings and
roads.
State officials in Germany said the damage in the eastern
Saxony region, hit hard last week, will exceed 15 billion
euros (dollars).
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told reporters 50,000
troops, border police and technical assistance authority were
fighting the floods and cleaning up after them, as well as
100,000 volunteers.
Art lovers around the world have been anxiously following
the plight of Dresden, eastern Germany's cultural jewel and
home to some of Europe's finest art collections, which was
badly hit by the flooding last week.
Museums hastily unloaded their vaults as water first
started to rise, saving thousands of paintings and sculptures.
But the storage rooms themselves and newly renovated
technology such as vital air conditioning systems were ruined.
Workers at the Semper Opera House continued to reorganise
their wardrobe after flood waters receded and were cleaning
their destroyed offices on Wednesday.
Dresden's mayor has said the reconstruction of the old
city, destroyed in World War Two, could be set back five
years.
Thousands of Germans have been evacuated on Wednesday to
escape floods that triggered what Schroeder said was the
biggest operation since World War Two.
About 20,000 people were leaving their homes in the
northern state of Lower Saxony as the waters surged
northwards, while in the rural northeast emergency workers
reinforced dykes on the River Elbe as the high point of the
floodwaters passed.
British soldiers based in Germany were helping at the
request of the German army, while Poland donated 150,000
sandbags. French troops were at work in Dresden, and Russian
equipment was being used in the eastern state of Brandenburg.
Residents in Luetkenwisch in Brandenburg, are preparing
for the floods expected to hit them on Thursday.
Volunteers and soldiers gathered on the river banks which
they fortified with sandbags.
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