Presented At Harvard University, March 20th, 2005 by Reinhard
Mau of EMiKo
The great flood of the Elbe River in August
2002 was the biggest flood disaster in Germany in decades, with 20 casualties
and more than $20 billion (USA) of damage in property and infrastructure. The
flood was caused by extreme and continuous rainfall for many days in the
mountains of Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany. This is in no way
comparable to the disaster of last December’s tsunami in the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean but just the
same people had to experience how helpless we are in face of such forces of nature.
The Elbe River, one of the major streams in Europe, stretches slightly
more than 1000 kilometers from east to west and descends 1384 meters from its
origin in the Bohemian mountains to the North Sea. 65% of it passes through
Germany, 34% through the Czech Republic. The catchment area amounts to 148,268
square kilometers. The stream flow per year measures at the Czech-German border
10 billion cubic meters and at its mouth 28 billion cubic meters per year.
In many places the dams left and right of the river were soaked to the
core and threatened to break. In fear of the dams breaking, thousands of
volunteers helped to strengthen and secure them. Also, parts of the
German Army were called in to assist by hand or with heavy machinery where this
was possible. Because of the soaked grounds in many occasions, help could only
come on foot or by helicopters. Sometimes single estates and even single
villages were secured by strengthening the dams. Many of these attempts
failed in the end because of the tremendous amounts of water.
The strong current swept everything along and carried all kinds
of debris in houses, gardens and fields. When the dams broke the water
poured into open fields and rushed down streets, flooding villages and towns
from the back so that there was no protection for the inhabitants any
more. Thus, the water flooded large areas and hundreds of villages and
towns in the rather flat region.
In Germany a large number of private houses
have oil tanks for the central heating systems in their basements. One of
the major problems was the oil from underground storage or from the oil tanks
in private cellars. Millions of liters of oil were washed into houses, gardens
and fields. In addition hundreds of communal wastewater treatment plants
– notably those of the city of Dresden - were flooded so that their sludge along
with chemicals and excrement mixed with the oil and contaminated everything
within its reach. Due to various contaminants, the cultivation of crops
and vegetables was impossible for a prolonged time. Farms as well as
industrial entities were affected.
Roughly one year before in the German speaking countries
Austria, Germany and Switzerland a Non-profit organization entitled EM e.V. had
been founded. As soon as the scale of the catastrophe was obvious
they decided to help in the aftermath with donations of Effective
Microorganisms™ or EM•1®. In Germany alone more than 6,000 liters of
EM•1® were donated and shipped to one particular area in order to help fight
the developing stench and contamination. With the help of volunteers the
producer of EM•1® in Germany, EMIKO Ltd., filled 4,000 liters in
10-liter containers and had them shipped to the Elbe River area.
One dealer produced 2,000 liters of Activated EM•1® and had it shipped there, too. At the same time the
Austrian producer of EM•1®, Multikraft Ltd., donated several
thousand liters to support one particular area in Austria where the heavy rains
had broken the dams of one particular river and devastated a number of villages
and towns in a similar manner.
The operation was limited to a few villages by the Elbe River. The first
problem: Apart from one family, no one had heard of EM•1® before.
So, first, of all the inhabitants were called to meetings where they were
informed of the properties of EM•1® and briefly educated on how and
where to use EM•1® most effectively. After the
instruction every household could take 10 liters home, but some asked for
additional EM•1® for neighbors and friends.
While giving out the EM•1® many questions had to be answered.
Most people needed EM•1® to eliminate stench and mold from their previously
flooded rooms and basements. They also wanted to treat their gardens, orchards
and ponds. Some volunteers were able to stay an extra day and visit some
of the places in order to give advice on the use of EM•1®.
Many trees had lost their fruit or died from the contamination.
Through the contacts of a native Japanese individual living in Germany
who volunteered in the whole operation, a team from a Japanese TV station came
to report on the flood. The also came to film the activities at a school where
teachers and students together learned about the efficiency of the EM•1®.
Here the school’s principal gave an interview on how Effective Microorganisms™,
conceived by Dr. Higa in Japan, could now help a school in Germany. Due
to the flood, the entire ground floor of the school could not be used. With
applications of EM•1® all renovation could be executed without
suffering from stench and mold. For many people the appearance of mold became
the biggest problem. Fortunately, EM•1® proved to prevent the
growth of these molds quite effectively.
As a final note, there was a two-family house that had such
contamination in the rooms of their basements that they individually decided to
knock down the moldy plaster and cover the brick walls with new plaster. One
family knew of EM•1®, the other did not. This family sprayed the
walls before plastering and also added EM•1® in the plaster before
applying it, the other family did it without EM•1®. After a few days
in these rooms the mold grew out of the fresh plaster whereas the family who
had used EM•1® had no mold at all. This was a wonderful
example of the capacity of EM•1®.
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