Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The country was confronted not only with the scattered remnants of the collapsed Soviet political and economic system, but also with the abrupt cancellation of the social contract between the government and its citizens. Thus, the long decline in living standards during the 1990s has been not only economically devastating, but socially and psychologically de-moralizing to the people of Ukraine as well. I got to work in two oblasts (provinces) of Ukraine. Firstly I worked as an observer of a water and sanitation assessment mission in Transcarpatia in March 2001. After a flood disaster in Romania released thousands of liters of contaminated industrial waste water the impacts on groundwater and wells in neighboring Ukraine had to be assessed.
The second assignment in May 2001 related to another natural disaster. As independent consultant for the Swiss Disaster Relief Unit on behalf of the UN I joined a technical assessment mission in Odessa oblast. The categorization and evaluation of damages caused by an ice storm in 2000 where the focus of this mission. In addition a catalogue was designed with appropriate measurements and budgets to rehabilitate selected social institutions.
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