Disasters and emergency response

Cambodia has been rebuilding after recently being hit by devastating floods that affected over one million citizens. These sudden natural disasters are tough to predict but the United Nations believes that more needs to be done to limit their impact. The BBC’s correspondent in Cambodia, Guy De ...

Poor accounting practices by ministries between 2005 and 2010 required them to seek additional government funds to the tune of $578.79 million, which was reserved for national emergencies, according to a multi-year budget analysis released on Friday by the NGO Forum on Cambodia ...

The government needs to enforce legislation on protecting the environment, even as it gives away masses of land and resources in concessions, or risk jeopardising its economic future, the UN assistant secretary-general for disaster risk reduction said yesterday. “The most critical impact of disasters today is ...

At least 105 houses were damaged by a violent rainstorm on Monday night in Prey Veng province’s Komchey Mear district. ...

Rice production grew by 6.42 percent last year, despite vast tracts of paddy being devastated by flooding, according to figures released yesterday by the Ministry of Agriculture. In the 2011 to 2012 season, 8.78 million tons of rice were harvested from 2.78 million hectares of ...

Nine villagers were injured and about 270 homes damaged when a storm ravaged Kampong Thom province’s Sandan district on Friday, police said yesterday. Sandan district governor Sim Vanna told the Post that gale-force winds and heavy rain had swept across the region, leaving a trail of ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance yesterday signed a US$60.3 million loan package with Asian Development Bank to aid in reconstruction efforts after the Kingdom last year suffered its worst floods in a decade. ...

Two hundred tons of unmilled rice slated for export to Vietnam was destroyed in a warehouse fire in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district early yesterday morning ...

Storms that swept through Kampot and Banteay Meanchey provinces on Friday and Saturday damaged more than 100 houses and three schools, officials said yesterday. ...

About 70 residents from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake met with Daun Penh district governor Sok Sambath yesterday to discuss the first phase of a new drainage system around the lake area that will protect against floods, a villager and municipal official said. ...

Top military officials from all 10 Asean countries yesterday attended the second Asean Military Operations Informal Meeting in Phnom Penh, an event aimed primarily at enhancing cooperation between the countries in terms of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. ...

As dignitaries marked the groundbreaking of a project to improve Phnom Penh’s defenses against flooding yesterday, a complaint had already been filed against the project’s contractor for impeding a public road. The Japanese government is putting $46 million into a new phase of the city’s flood ...

The Phnom Penh municipality is set to begin contruction on Monday for a project funded by the Japanese government, in order to improve both the infastructure of the city’s drainage system and its capability to handle flood water. ...

Agricultural officials and farmers in Kampong Thom province are increasingly worried about the adverse effect that a severe drought is having on more than 200 hectares of rice crops. director of the provincial agricultural department, told the Post yesterday that due to an unusually low amount ...

One woman was killed, several villagers injured and more than 80 houses destroyed or badly damaged by storms that swept through the provinces of Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey and Mondulkiri over the weekend, provincial officials said yesterday. “I have never seen this kind of storm ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on microfinance institutions to reduce interest rates and expand repayment periods for the tens of thousands of families affected by last year’s devastating floods. Addressing microfinance institutions (MFIs) on Tuesday during a conference at the Ministry of Rural Development, ...

The curse of Cambodia’s 2011 floods continues for those most affected, as they fall deeper into debt from unsustainable cyclical debt practices, a consortium of international NGOs said yesterday. The consortium of Care, Oxfam, Pact and Catholic Relief Services released the results of their January survey ...

The floodwaters may have receded, but their effects are far from over, with the government, NGOs and international donors saying yesterday they are still assessing the damage as they shift to long-term rehabilitation. Last November, Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon said the government would ...

Cambodia’s total paddy rice output reached 8.4 million tonnes in 2011, up from 8.25 million tonnes last year, according an initial assessment by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Provincial MAFF officials from across the Kingdom met in Phnom Penh on Saturday, when data was ...

Thailand’s ongoing recovery efforts from recent flooding have led to a resurgence in the country’s demand for labor, resulting in a record number of Cambodian migrants crossing the border in search of work, officials and experts said yesterday. Ouk Keorattanak, Banteay Manteay provincial deputy administration chief, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday urged provincial governors to investigate the deaths of the about 250 people who died during the flooding disaster this year in order to develop a strategy to reduce deaths from flooding. If officials could identify the factors that caused the deaths ...

A regional meeting on disaster risk reduction and climate change wrapped up yesterday with officials pointing to the recent flooding as a reason to take immediate action to prepare for disasters. “We must not sleep or wait for donors to take action,” Ross Sovann, deputy secretary-general ...

Although floodwaters are receding, an unknown number of villages in several provinces remain accessible only by boat, and the extent of the damage has yet to be fully assessed, according to aid workers and the latest “situation update” from the United Nations Disaster Management Team. “In ...

All families evacuated during the worst floods Cambodia has seen in more than a decade have now returned home, the floodwaters have receded and relief efforts are coming to a close, officials said yesterday. Two hundred and fifty people, at least half of them children, died ...