Vízügyi Közlemények, Az 1998. évi árvíz, 2003 (különszám)

III. kötet: A 2001. évi árvíz - Szlávik Lajos: Szerkesztői előszó

12 Editor 's Preface mountain streams parallel thereto. The lessons learned from the cyanide disaster on the Szamos and Tisza rivers in the year 2000 and from other pollution accidents have also been assessed. The description of these events and the analysis of the experiences have been summarised in four volumes to be published as special issues of the Journal Hydraulic Engineering. The first of these is devoted to the 1998 November flood on the River Tisza, the second to the events in 1999-2000, while the third to the Bereg County flood disaster in 2001. The aim in dealing with the various floods was to follow a uniform approach comprising an outline of the meteorological situation, the hydrologic description of events, the experiences with central control, the flood phenomena observed, the course of local emergency measures taken and the assessment of the effectiveness thereof. A calendar of events is included in each volume. Articles on general and methodological issues are published in the fourth volume. In the fifth volume terminating the sequence of special issues an attempt has been undertaken at describing the potential answers to the problems raised by the abnormal floods and the methods by which the problems of the Tisza floods can be addressed. These emergency situations present a serious challenge to the improvement of the system of defences. A review is included of the programme called Improvement of Vásárhelyi Plan", which is aimed at raising the level of flood safety in the Tisza Valley while serving at the same time the objectives of regional and rural development in its range of influence. Without running the risk of exaggeration it appears safe to claim that the present collection of studies represents one of the most ambitious efforts undertaken thus far in Hungary at analysing and disseminating the experiences made in the field of mastering flood emergencies. The collection contains 77 articles written by 82 authors. (Several of the authors have contributed to several articles, so that the total number of authors is actually 153.) The Editor has endeavoured to adhere to the traditions of the Journal Hydraulic Engineering. Limitations in space have, however, precluded the summaries in foreign languages. As the sole exceptions, English versions of the editor's preface, the introduction and table of contents are included in this volume. An English summary in Vol. 5 serves to familiarise the foreign reader with the Vásárhelyi Plan. To facilitate orientation in the various volumes, the (Hungarian) table of contents is included in each. This is the first occasion in the history of this journal that the complete material is made available also in digital format on CD. Floods are natural events in the regime of rivers. Rising flood levels, changes in the hydrologic parameters describing the passage of floods, the occurrence of increasingly extreme hydro-meteorological situations, the consequences of human impacts in the catchment and those of climate change must be anticipated. Floods have been and will be inevitable features of the past and future history of the Tisza Valley. These volumes are intended to facilitate adaptation to these floods. Besides documenting the history of food fighting, the articles are expected to contribute a sound professional base to the improvement of flood safety in the region, as well as to the organisation and implementation of future emergency measures. Dr. L. Szlávik