ogoto - east news

As many as 74 percent of Poles claim that this year's flooding has become a major issue in the presidential election campaign, shows a survey by CBOS pollsters.

According to the poll, 78 percent of respondents believe that this year's flooding has worsened the economic situation of the country and will have a long-term impact on it.

Poles think that damage caused by floods could have been less severe if river banks and embankments had been better protected (69 percent), rivers had been regulated and there had been more reservoirs (60 percent). As many as 39 percent of respondents think that the lack of flood preventive measures resulted in damages and 15 percent that central or local authorities were not ready to face the floods. Seventeen percent of respondents complain that they had not been warned about the coming floods.

The poll shows that firemen, policemen, soldiers and sanitary and health care workers proved to be most helpful during the flooding. Fire fighters were top rated by as many as 91 percent of respondents.

The survey was conducted from 10 to 16 June 2010 among 977 people including those affected by the floods. (mg)