Friends of the Earth
Action Briefing Feb 2000/Mar 2000
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Birmingham Friends of the Earth Action Briefing Feb 2000/Mar 2000 |
Starting from the early hours of 27 December 1999, north-east, south-west and central France were hammered by 48 hours of 200 kph hurricanes, devastating electricity networks and damaging buildings, roads and railways. Immediate fatalities were 97. Storms also hit Switzerland, Germany, Spain and Italy, although none suffered as much as France.
Most visible is the environmental damage. The French landscape has changed, particularly in the most devastated areas of the east and the south-west. The forests are ruined: between 260 million and 300 million trees have been destroyed - compared with 15 million in Britain in the gales of 1987.
The agricultural Minister, announced an emergency plan to rescue the forestry industry from collapse, as estimates of its loss of earnings and the cost of replanting reach £3bn.