Disasters and emergency response
Disasters
Mekong drought worsens amid doubts over Lao promises
Drought in Southeast Asia is raising concerns in the Cambodian and Vietnamese countryside where salinity levels are rising in the Mekong River and people are skeptical about fresh promises from Laos that it will respect the rights of downstream countries in dam construction. ...
Luke Hunt
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/mekong-drought-worsens-amid-doubts-over-lao-promises/3248924.html
Almost all provinces facing drought, gov’t says
Almost every province in Cambodia is facing some level of drought, according to director of the Meteorology Department at the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology Oum Ryna, but only a few provinces were facing a severe shortage of water. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/23082/almost-all-provinces-facing-drought--gov---t-says/
Government welcomes drought relief measures by China
Government officials on Wednesday applauded China’s decision to take emergency measures to counter the impact of a regional drought by releasing water into the Mekong River from the Jinghong Hydropower Station in China’s southwestern Yunnan province. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-welcomes-drought-relief-measures-by-china-110018/
Mystery blaze destroys timber, vehicles at Pursat forestry office
At least 27 vehicles loaded with confiscated timber were destroyed by fire while parked in the Kravanh Forestry Administration compound in Pursat province on Sunday, leaving no evidence for potential prosecution and rights groups doubting the authorities’ version of events. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Igor Kossov
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mystery-blaze-destroys-timber-vehicles-pursat-forestry-office
Small-scale sand dredging business shut down
A small-scale sand dredging business on the banks of Sraeng lake in Banteay Meanchey’s Teuk Cho commune was shut down yesterday by Preah Net Preah district authorities after it was found to be operating without a license, according to district governor Ly Sovannarith. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22745/small-scale-sand-dredging-business-shut-down/
Man killed in first lightning fatality of the year
Pailin province’s first thunderstorm of 2016 claimed a victim on Friday afternoon when two farmers were struck by lightning while returning home from their fields. ...
Mom Kunthear and Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22697/man-killed-in-first-lightning-fatality-of-the-year/
Water running out in Reay Pai
About 2,700 families in Kampong Cham province’s Reay Pai commune, where wells and ponds have almost dried up, could soon be left without any safe water. ...
Sen David and Igor Kossov
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/water-running-out-reay-pai
Mysterious fire destroys ELC timber admidst investigation
Hundreds of cubic meters of timber on a Mondulkiri economic land concession leased to the Uni-Green Company burned to the ground yesterday after an alleged fire from a nearby forest jumped to the property, according to provincial governor Svay Sam Eng, who added that despite ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/22280/mysterious-fire-destroys-elc-timber-admidst-investigation/
Chicken farm razed in Preah Sihanouk
A grass fire raged through a chicken farm in Preah Sihanouk province on Wednesday, destroying two coops and the chickens within and causing $10,000 in damage, according to provincial authorities. ...
Sen David and Igor Kossov
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/chicken-farm-razed-preah-sihanouk
Fire season brings warning from ministry
As the Kingdom moves into the heart of the dry season, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries has issued a set of guidelines on the prevention of forest fires, stressing that jail is in the cards for those starting blazes. ...
Bun Sengkong and Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fire-season-brings-warning-ministry
Blaze strikes SR silk farm
A popular Siem Reap silk producer and tourist attraction was this week counting the cost of a fire that destroyed a stockroom and required crews from four fire engines to control. ...
Thik Kaliyann
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/blaze-strikes-sr-silk-farm
El Nino may crimp lending to farmers
Lending to farmers will be stricter this year as the El Nino weather phenomenon extends the dry season, executives at microfinance institutes (MFIs) said yesterday. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21905/el-nino-may-crimp-lending-to-farmers/
Citizens urged to ration water
Cambodia’s drought has hit even the coldest provinces, as Ban Lung’s main water supplier, Tai Seng Phalit Teuksaat Co., broadcast drought warnings to the residents of Ratanakkiri early this week, advising residents to start rationing water. ...
Aisha Down
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21847/citizens-urged-to-ration-water/
Blazes seen across kingdom
Recent satellite images from NASA have captured a high number of fires blazing across Cambodia this season, illustrating what one forestry official called a chronic inability to deal with the Kingdom’s numerous illegally set fires, a problem exacerbated by especially dry El Niño conditions. ...
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/blazes-seen-across-kingdom
Rice farmers looking at dry spell
Farmers and exporters have expressed concerns over an Agriculture Ministry notice issued on Wednesday asking farmers to have only one harvest this upcoming dry season because of water shortages across the country, given that this could affect the paddy output next year.The ministry notice cited ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-farmers-looking-dry-spell
The Mekong river stories from the heart of the climate crisis interactive
The fate of 70 million people rests on what happens to the Mekong river. With world leaders meeting in Paris next week for crucial UN climate talks, John Vidal journeys down south-east Asia’s vast waterway – a place that encapsulates some of the dilemmas they ...
Kingdom at high risk of natural disasters
A report released on Monday by the United Nations and the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) shows that Cambodia’s population is among the world’s 10 most affected by natural disasters. ...
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kingdom-high-risk-natural-disasters
Another drought year in store for Cambodia
As the weather pattern known as El Niño threatens to wreak havoc on climatic conditions across the globe, the Cambodian government has warned that higher-than-usual temperatures, which already sparked droughts this year, will cause next year’s rainy season to be even shorter.What’s more, the heat ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/another-drought-year-store-cambodia
Kamchay dam claims not behind Kampot flood
The Chinese company that operates the hydroelectric power plant on the Kamchay River in Kampot province yesterday denied that a decision to open the dam’s gates during a recent storm was the cause of severe flooding in the area. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/17998/kamchay-dam-claims-not-behind-kampot-flood/
PM calls for drought aid preparations
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on local authorities and government ministries to be ready to distribute water to farmers around the country due to the ongoing shortage in the Kingdom’s reservoirs. He added that if people had trouble contacting local authorities, individual farmers should ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-calls-drought-aid-preparations
Deadly flooding spurs protest
After two deaths to flooding in as many rainy seasons and another close call on Monday, villagers from Khva Village in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor District are demanding action. They say that the cause of the flooding is the extraction of soil nearby by a company ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/17215/deadly-flooding-spurs-protest/
Drought spawns fish fears
Fishing communities along two of Cambodia’s principle rivers say their livelihoods are threatened by droughts that have reduced water levels and devastated fish numbers.“The Tonle Sap is 3 metres lower than last year,” Long Sochhet, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Fishing Communities, said yesterday. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Jamie Elliott
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/drought-spawns-fish-fears
‘Disaster death toll low, cost devastating’
Cambodia has sustained far fewer deaths due to natural disasters than any other country in the region this year, deputy secretary general of the National Committee for Disaster Management Ross Sovann said on Friday, at a workshop coinciding with Asean Day of Disaster Management. ...
Chea Vannak
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/16500/---disaster-death-toll-low--cost-devastating---/
Cambodia to host commemoration of ASEAN day for disaster management next Friday
This year’s celebration of ASEAN Day for Disaster Management (ADDM) and International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) will be hosted by Cambodia on Oct. 9-10, aiming to raise people’s awareness of disaster risk reduction. ...