Experts continue to check flood-damaged buildings in Prague

(19 Aug 2002)

1. Wide shot police vehicles drive up street in flood affected area of central Prague
2. Pan of people watching activity inside closed -off area from behind army cordon
3. Policeman with protective mask
4. Tilt up plan of central Prague to soldier
5. Army truck drives past semi-collapsed building
6. Close-up pulls out semi-collapsed building
7. Tracking shot mud on road
8. Tracking shot deserted street closed off by police barriers
9. Tracking shot from car upto building undermined by flooding which has collapsed
10. Tilt up destroyed building
11. Huge teddybear and other flood damaged property lying out on street
12. Wide shot collapsed building
13. Tilt down collapsed building
14. Police and clean-up workers standing at steet corner
15. Tracking shot police cars driving through muddy streets of central Prague
16. Tracking shot of soldiers with shovels and flood damaged street
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Vox pop, Prague resident:
"I have a house, a building there, but I don't get any information about the building because much of the information is for people who were evacuated. I understand that, because they are in a very poor position, but it should also be understood that we as houseowners have the responsibility to get the buildings running properly and I suppose they can't be opened without us."
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Kupka,, spokesman for Prague City Hall
"We know in this time that about 10 percent of these buildings have very big problems with their construction."
19. Road cleaning truck spraying water
20. Tilt down entrance stairs of subway station to flood water at bottom
21. Pan interior flooded underground station
22. Bottles floating in floodwater in underground
23. Steps leading out of subway
24. Mid shot exterior subway entrance
25. SOUNDBITE (English) Vox pop, Prague resident, Josef Hayek
"I think it has already our lives because what used to take five minutes takes 15 minutes, it is very hot of course and life is very uncomfortable. Now there is great uncertainty as to what will be revealed when all the water is pumped out."
25. Wide shot interior railway station hall
26. Various platforms, passengers getting off train
27. Various of group of passengers looking at a notice board notice board displaying alternative transport routes to be used because of flooding disruption
28. Tilt down face of city transport official to map as he explains (UPSOUND) that city centre transport is closed and that poeple must use different modes of transport
29. Wide tracking shot passengers wait for trams
30. Crowded tram departs

STORYLINE:

Experts in the Czech Republic continued checking the safety of the flood-damaged houses in Prague on Monday, a day after a collapsed apartment building prompted authorities to seal off parts of the capital.

An apartment building collapsed early on Sunday in Prague's low-lying Karlin district, the neighbourhood most damaged by the flooding.

It was the third building to collapse in four days; no injuries were reported.

The water level in the Vltava River, which flows through the Czech capital, dropped by more than five metres (16 feet) since Wednesday, when the river crested during the most devastating flooding to hit the country in 175 years.

The drop in river and ground waters levels caused hollows under some already seriously damaged buildings and experts warned that more buildings could cave in as sunshine and warm weather dry out the city.



Officials said it would take months to fully restore the subway service.


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