Annual report 2005 Malteser International - Ordine di Malta

ON THE SPOT: ROMANIA
The end of the road: Banat Ocean
Zsuzsa Barla, Secretary General of the Romanian relief agency SAMR (Serviciul de Ajutor Maltez în
România), reports on aid during the 2005 flood
Necessity is the mother of invention: collecting relief goods on a homemade raft.
The bridge to Otelec ends in nothing:
no asphalt any more, no boundary stones,
nothing on the horizon but treetops. And a
worrying silence. Only the noise here and
there of walls bursting under the pressure
of the water. When we were on our way
to discover the extent of damage in west
Romania in April 2005, we had to turn
back before Otelec, which is normally
25 kilometres away from the River
Timiş. And we saw what it was the press
were renaming in terms of Romanian
geography: the Banat Ocean.
But after returning to the Malteser
centre in Klausenburg and to the other
affected areas, the initially paralysing
horror gave way quickly to research,
planning and preparation of aid projects:
damages were calculated, contact made
with other organisations participating
in flood aid. Soon after, the Romanian
relief agency SAMR, cooperating with
Malteser International, was able to come
to the rescue of flood victims from the
Banat with humanitarian aid totalling
over EUR 100,000. For example, in
Otelec we organised a field kitchen for
flood victims from the Timiş district.
Residents affected by the floods and now
most concerned about the reconstruction
of their houses were thus provided daily
with a warm meal.
Beginning in spring 2005, Romania
was afflicted by the worst flood the
country has seen in more than 100
years. A sequence of six tidal waves hit
almost every region within Romania:
first Transylvania, then the Banat and
in July Moldova and Walachia. August
brought two simultaneous tidal waves
across the country. In autumn, the rains
returned, this time in the south. More
than 30 people died, with hundreds of
locations submerged under water. Across
the country, the flood caused damage of
over EUR 1 billion.
It is mainly elderly people who have been affected by
the floods.
In addition to emergency aid, a longterm
aid programme was also started.
SAMR and Malteser International
helped rebuild and re-equip the houses
of pensioners and poor families with
many children. The Czech Malteser relief
agency, experienced in flood aid, also
came to help us and provided 71 hot-air
heaters so that we could dry the houses
out as quickly as possible and make them
habitable once more.
Given that the international media
barely reported the flood disaster in
Romania at all, and only quite some time
after it happened, it was remarkable how
interested the Romanian press, radio
and television were in the actions of the
Malteser agencies. Possibly because
SAMR was one of the few domestic aid
organisations who reacted quickly and
effectively to the flood disaster.
Even though no one could have wished
for an event such as the 2005 flood in
Romania, it did at least mean that we found
out once again that positive cooperation
between the Malteser agencies from
different countries is possible and can be
a blessing for those affected by disaster.
Malteser flood aid in 2005 brought us
closer together and we collected valuable
experiences that will enable us to react
responsibly to similar situations in the
future.
Zsuzsa Barla, Secretary General of SAMR, in
conversation with flood victims.
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