Ukraine hosts major flood relief exercise with NATO Allies and Partners Freak rainfall in mid-September drives up water levels dramatically in Ukraine's Transcarpathia, a region prone to floods. Dams and rivers break their banks, sweeping away the region's main bridges and flooding more than 300 towns and villages. Two hundred kilometres of road are submerged and power lines are disrupted. Individuals and communities across the country are stranded and tens of thousands of people left homeless. Ukraine's national disaster relief resources are overwhelmed by the scope of the catastrophe. Faced with a major calamity, Ukraine, a NATO Partner, appeals for help to the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EARDCC) situated at NATO headquarters in Brussels and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA). This is the disaster scenario which will form the basis of a major international exercise, Trans-Carpathia 2000, which NATO Allies, Ukraine and other Partners are conducting in Brussels and Ukraine from September 20 to 29 within the framework of the Partnership for Peace programme. Aiming to test how quickly and effectively countries could rally to the international appeal for help of a country stricken by such a disaster, Trans-Carpathia 2000 will begin on September 20 with a command post exercise involving the EARDCC in Brussels, civil emergency officials from NATO, Ukraine and other participating countries. It will also demonstrate how the EARDCC can function as a vital centre for exchanging information, identifying requuirements and coordinating national responses. On September 26, Trans-Carpathia 2000 will switch to western Ukraine for a three-day "live" phase of the exercise which will be conducted on the banks of the River Uzh with the participation of about 300 personnel from 11 countries. The Uzhgorod exercise will be attended on September 27 by Ukrainian Emergency Situations Minister Vassil Durdinets, senior NATO officials and representatives of other international organisations and EAPC countries. In the scenario, groups of schoolchildren are stranded in mountain scout camps. In Uzhgorod and other cities, elderly people, many unable to move without assistance, are trapped in flooded old people's homes. Across the country individuals are stranded in trees and on the roofs of submerged houses. A major health threat emerges as sewage from damaged pipes seeps into the water system, rendering 40 per cent of drinking water unfit for consumption. With the region's infrastructure under heavy strain, accidents multiply. Near Uzhgorod, a railway tanker loaded with hazardous chemicals derails, spilling some of its toxic cargo. Another train comes off the track a day later on the Trans-Siberian railway. About 40 international experts aboard have to be evacuated and repatriated. A landslide opens up a crack in the Druzhba oil pipeline. The local emergency service has the situation under control but will need outside help soon. In the live exercise, participating countries will contribute personnel and equipment to acting out operations dealing with these tricky and hazardous challenges. These will include simulated search-and-rescue operations on the river and efforts to tackle the aftermath of an oil spill. Teams from participating countries will also carry out life support activities, practise water purification techniques and other activities. Participating countries will include NATO Allies Hungary and Poland and nine NATO Partners - Belarus, Croatia, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and host country Ukraine.