BUDAPEST, Jun 15 2013 (IPS) - Record floods in Central and Eastern Europe have highlighted some of the challenges of climate change for the continent, as well as the floods’ potential to spur populist politics.

An extraordinarily long winter followed by weeks of intense rains has saturated soils and caused large rivers, such as the Danube and the Elbe, to overflow. The floods have wreaked havoc in the region, killing 21 people and forcing the evacuation of several tens of thousands.

Hungary: Floods Preparedness - DREF operation n° MDRHU002

CHF 52,487 has been allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Hungarian Red Cross Society in strengthening their disaster response preparedness and in delivering immediate assistance to some 1,500 families potentially affected by the imminent floods on the river Danube. Unearmarked funds to repay DREF are encouraged.

CHF 178,068 has been allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Hungarian Red Cross Society by the replenishment of their own emergency stocks already distributed to some 15,000 beneficiaries. Unearmarked funds to repay DREF are encouraged.

BUDAPEST, April 17 (UNHCR) – "Iraqi families do not come to Europe to picnic" said Iraqi refugee and father of two Abdulrahman Hassan. "They need a safe place to live and to ensure a future for their children."

The 48-year-old Hassan believes that future is in education and his main goal is for his children to finish school and find decent work in their new country. The Iraqi family of four fled their Bagdad home in 2007 after their Syrian Catholic church was bombed twice by extremists.

BUDAPEST, February 6, 2012 (AFP) - The cold snap gripping swathes of Europe killed 12 people in Hungary over the past three days, authorities said on Monday, in the country's first announcement of fatalities.

"Twelve people have died from the cold in the last three days, 55 people have been evacuated and 172 accidents have been reported," the OKW emergencies authority said in a statement.

Hungary has reported temperatures of as low as minus 24 degrees Celsius (minus 11.2 degrees Fahrenheit) in the north and of minus 20 in the capital Budapest overnight Sunday to Monday.

VIENNA — A year after Hungary's worst chemicals spill released vast amounts of poisonous red mud, levels of toxic substances are lower than feared but still above average, Greenpeace said on Wednesday.

"All in all the levels of toxic contamination, particularly in maize and in the soil, are lower than feared," said Herwig Schuster from the environmental pressure group's central and eastern European office in Vienna.

"A lengthy and expensive clean-up will be needed in order to turn the rivers back into a functioning ecosysystem."

EU tackling toxic sludge

EU CP experts returned home. The findings of the EU CP Team were presented to Hungarian authorities, which included short and longer-term suggestions to further enhance the remedial and recovery plan of the Hungarian government. A possible follow-up expert mission may take place in 2011.

On Monday 18 October 2010, the European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Ms Kristalina Georgieva travelled to Hungary for meetings that had been planned well in advance of the accident. She used the opportunity

A four-day WHO expert field mission to Hungary concluded on 16 October by making recommendations to minimize the short- and long-term health impact of a sludge spill at an alumina plant of Magyar Alumínium Zrt. (MAL Zrt.), Ajkai Timfoldgyar in the town of Ajka, and to prevent similar events with potential transboundary effects.

The team was led by staff of WHO/Europe's WHO European Centre for Environment and Health, Rome, and included experts from the WHO collaborating centre for chemical incidents in the United Kingdom and ICARO, the Italian consulting company on environment and health