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The Czech Insurers' Association revealed on Thursday that the estimates of damage caused by last month's floods were reduced from 30.6 billion Czech crowns to 29.7 billion crowns. The number of flood-related claims recorded by the 17 insurance companies that are part of the association also fell from 100,000 to 78,000. Employees of the insurance companies have already inspected all of their clients' damaged properties, with the exception of smaller cases of flooded cellars or partially damaged weekend cottages. Insurance companies hope to cover the claims of most of their clients by the end of this year.

In last week's edition of the Arts, Radio Prague's David Vaughan reported on the extensive damage done to the Museum of Central Bohemia in the little town of Roztoky during last month's floods. A few week's ago in Newsview, we featured an interview with Leo Pavlat, the director of the Jewish Museum in Prague about the state of Prague's Jewish Quarter. In this week's Arts, join Dita Asiedu as she takes a look at the damage recorded by other galleries and museums affected by the floods.

The Czech government has approved a package of measures to raise extra money to finance repair of damage caused by the recent devastating floods. The government hopes to gain an extra 26 billion crowns for the state budget over the next two years.

An estimated half a million books and documents from archives and libraries were damaged around the Czech Republic during August's floods, and trying to save valuable works is proving to be an absolutely mammoth task. At a ceremony at the National Library on Tuesday, the British Ambassador, Anne Pringle, presented Czech Culture Minister Pavel Dostal with novel vacuum drying machines which will help in that task.

The Planeta Peru for Children Foundation, is holding a benefit concert this Thursday for children who have suffered as a consequence of last month's devastating floods. The concert, supported by the Office of the President, will be held at Prague Castle's Spanish Hall at 8 p.m. and tickets are still available. Dita Asiedu spoke to the foundation's director, Guillermo Parodi:

In this week's edition of Talking Point Pavla Horakova takes a walk in the centre of Prague and talks to foreign tourists and people from the tourist business asking them whether there is still a reason to be afraid to come and visit the country.

Many things changed in our lives as a result of the recent floods and not only in the lives of people who were directly affected by high water. Transport is a good example. In Prague there were no collapsed bridges, buckled rail tracks or stretches of roads swept away by water - the city has a different problem. The flooding of the metro hit Prague unprepared. The backbone of public transport was broken and as though through a time warp, Prague somehow almost returned back to the early 1970's before the first stretch of the metro was

One of the enduring images of last month's floods was the site of a wooden sculpture, a giant chair that had adorned the terrace of the Sovovy Mlyny Gallery in Prague, being swept like a child's toy down the River Vltava. The damage caused by last month's floods to museums and galleries around the Czech Republic is shocking, and the fate of that unusual wooden sculpture was by no means unique. In Prague there was also damage to the Museum of Czech Music by the Charles Bridge and the Saint Agnes Convent just downstream, housing the National Gallery's

Prague's public transport authority has released a statement defending its actions during last month's catastrophic flooding in the capital, saying that the Prague metro was closed in time, in accordance with flood measures. The authority has also indicated that anti-flood barriers, based on set standards and norms, were in place but simply ineffective against the record-high waters. A transport authority spokeswoman said on Thursday that an earlier closure of the metro system would have changed little in the outcome; she indicated that, on the contrary, an earlier closure of the metro would have complicated the evacuation of Prague residents from heavily flooded areas.