Disasters and emergency response
Phnom Penh orders rice sell-off to fight price gouges
City Hall coordinated the release of 120 tons of rice in cooperation with the state-run Rural Development Bank yesterday to keep prices in the city stable amid reports that vendors were using the current floods to gouge customers. Last week, Prime Minister Hun Sen said the ...
Floods force GDP revision
Cambodia has lowered its economic growth projection from 7 to 6 per cent for 2011 after more than a month of flood devastation in the Kingdom and continued economic turmoil in the United States and Europe, Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon said yesterday. The full impact ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011101252083/Business/floods-force-gdp-revision.html
Flood costs to surpass $100m
PERSISTENT flooding in several areas of the Kingdom could result in more than US$100 million worth of damage, the National Committee for Disaster Management said yesterday. Flood waters have killed 207 people since early September and forced more than 32,000 families from their homes, according to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011101152037/Business/flood-costs-to-surpass-100mn.html
Polluters told to pay out
Government officials yesterday pointed to developing countries as the main culprits behind climate change and claimed such nations should provide the majority of finan-cing for protecting the Kingdom from the issue. “We are a victim of the problems of the rich,” Environment Minister Mok Mareth said ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011100651994/National-news/polluters-told-to-pay-out.html
Floods extend dengue season
Recent flooding has extended the dengue fever season this year, the National Dengue Control Program said on Tuesday. Officials added that more than 12,000 people, primarily children, had been hospitalised so far this year with the mosquito-borne infection. Dr Ngan Chantha, head of the NDCP, said “12,392 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011100651987/National-news/floods-extend-dengue-season.html
Coordination of flood aid questioned
As floodwaters across the country remain high after almost two weeks of flooding, tens of thousands of families are still waiting in unsanitary comnditions for emergency supplies such as food and water. But while help trickles down to affected communities, aid groups have begun to question ...
Cambodia to fall short in rice exports due to flooding
Phnom Penh–Cambodia’s rice exports to foreign countries this year will fall short from the amount that was expected earlier, due to the flooding, said President of the Federation of Cambodian Rice Millers Association Phou Puy on Tuesday. The flooding has hit the country since August, will ...
Flooding destroys 3% of national crop
Three percent of the country’s rice crops have been destroyed by flooding in provinces along the Mekong River and around the Tonle Sap lake, and another seven percent is at risk of being lost, the minister of agriculture said yesterday. New government estimates also show that ...
Flooding damage to eclipse Typhoon Ketsana
As severe flooding continues to plague provinces along the Mekong River and around the Tonle Sap lake, new figures released by aid groups and officials yesterday showed that the scale of the disaster is far bigger than initially expected and could be worse than Typhoon ...
Minister says floods affect 90,303 families
Flooding has affected 90,303 families and flooded 83,007 houses nationwide, while 13,402 families have been evacuated so far from inundated areas, Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said Monday. Citing data from the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), Mr Kanharith also said in a posting to ...
Emergency cabinet meeting called over floods
An emergency cabinet meeting has been called for today to discuss disaster response and prevention in the face of severe flooding that has hit many parts of the country. More than 132,000 hectares of rice paddy field have been inundated with water since flooding began earlier ...
Flooding has killed 62, displaced thousands
Continuing flooding along the Mekong River and around the Tonle Sap lake is taking a severe toll on local communities, government officials said Friday, as they released preliminary figures showing that 62 people had been killed in the floods, 5,000 families had been displaced, and ...
Payout for swept-away workers
The company constructing a dam in Koh Kong province, where seven workers were swept away in floodwaters earlier this month, has paid US$1,000 to the families of each of the men for funeral expenses, but is denying responsibility for the incident, an official said yesterday. Sok ...
Officials meet to discuss risks from natural disasters
Amid forecasts that provinces around the Mekong River could see further flooding, government officials, donors and NGO workers met yesterday to discuss the risks posed by natural disasters and climate change. Rafael Dochao Moreno, charge d’affaires of the European Union Delegation, warned that Cambodia is already ...
Families file complaint over missing dam workers
Three families have lodged complaints against China National Heavy Machinery Co after a storm at the company’s hydropower dam project in Koh Kong province on September 10 swept away a group of workers, leaving two dead and five missing, rights group Adhoc said yesterday. Neang Boratino, ...
Eight workers lost in deluge at dam site
Eight workers at the Stung Tatay hydro project, in Koh Kong province, are presumed dead after being swept away by floodwaters on Sunday. Seven of the men drowned while trying to rescue a colleague who had fainted after floodwaters swept over a bridge, stranding him at ...
Floods show Laos needs early warning
Heavy flooding during the rainy season, affecting 10 out of 17 provinces in Laos, has underlined the need for stronger disaster-management efforts, experts say. Tropical storm Haima struck central and northern parts of the country on June 24, with Nock-10 hitting central and southern areas on ...
Xayaburi dam may cause earthquakes: Vietnamese report
The Xayaburi dam project in Northern Laos might increase the probability of earthquakes in a region already prone to seismic activity, according to a recently translated report from Vietnam. The 1260-megawatt project sits about 100 kilometres south of the Lai Chau-Dien fault line. Construction activity on the ...
HCM City hosts Lower Mekong Initiative Disaster Management workshop
HCM CITY – A workshop to develop disaster management capacity for the four Lower Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam by encouraging collaborative efforts through dialogue and information exchange opened yesterday in HCM City. The five-day Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) Disaster Management workshop, ...
Cambodia ranked ninth most at risk for disasters
Cambodia was ranked the ninth most at risk country of being exposed to natural disasters out of 173 countries surveyed in a new report by the UN University’s Institute for Environment and Human Security A UNDP report released in August supported the World Risk report’s findings ...
Huge swaths of flooded forest protected by decree
Almost 650,000 hectares of ecologically-rich flooded forest surrounding the Tonle Sap lake has been protected by a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday. The 647,406 hectare area spans sections of Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap and Kampong Thom provinces. ...
Hun Sen Establishes Protected Zone for Tonle Sap Floodplains
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday signed off on a sub-decree that officially created a 640,000-hectare protected zone covering the flooded forest and floodplains of Tonle Sap lake. The sub-decree determined that 647,406 hectares of flooded forest around Tonle Sap lake in Kompong Chhnang, Pursat, ...
Climate Change Considered as Flooding Hits Cambodia
The wet season had come and gone with almost no rain. Despite the best efforts of the farmers from Tralach commune, in Takeo province’s Traing district, widespread crop failures two years ago brought the community to the economic, and dietary, brinkThis week, farmers in Kratie ...
Rainfall relieves drought for Battambang farmers
Cambodia has met 82 percent of its expected 250,000 hectares of cultivated rice after rains have relieved the drought struck province of Battambang. 400 hectares is all that remains still at risk, a small section of the 10,000 rice growing hectares in the province. According ...