A raft of complications
Riun Pau ran out of food last week.
For the 13-year-old and her family, that moment was the culmination of weeks of distress caused by flooding that had already ravaged their Battambang home and farmland. …
Pau’s neighbours are experiencing similar problems. In Battambang, 67.3 per cent of the provincial population has been affected by flood waters in recent weeks, hundreds of hectares of rice fields have been destroyed, and food is in increasingly short supply.
The Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization’s Cambodia offices have expressed continual concern over the spread of disease exacerbated by fetid flood waters.
But for many sharing a similar lifestyle as Sun, healthcare is nonexistent, partly due to the number of health centres that have also been affected by flooding.
As of Tuesday, 69 health centres and hospitals across the country have been hit by rising waters, according to a report released by the Humanitarian Response Forum (HRF), a coalition of the United Nations, NGOs and other international organisations.
According to National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) figures released on Tuesday, Battambang remains at high risk of further flood damage.
All 14 districts in the province have been affected, with evacuations occurring in more than half.
Flooding also increases exposure to anti-personnel mines as rain washes away soil. Since flooding began, a piece of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and two anti-tank mines have already been reported as being found in Battambang. …
HRF participants have agreed to request what they term an “initial emergency cash grant” of $50,000 to support ongoing relief efforts.
Extensive rainfall, badly managed dams and flash floods have contributed to 60,000 Cambodians leaving their homes in pursuit of dry ground, while more than 130 people have drowned – at least 10 of them in Battambang – and 1.5 million have been affected by floods in 20 of the Kingdom’s 24 provinces. …
One of the few willing to speak on the record, the Puthi Komar Organisation (PKO), an NGO based in Battambang district and funded by a foreign donor since 2009, has tried working alongside the National Disaster Rescue Committee in the past but has consistently been faced with humanitarian needs that require a swifter response, executive director Lim Sophea said.
“We’re a humanitarian organisation uninterested in politics. Both political parties are trying to take advantage of the situation this year,” Sophea said. …
The situation in Battambang has been exacerbated by the Tonle Sap’s overflow, which has destroyed 3,000 hectares of rice paddy fields in Boeung Tim village, in Sangke district’s Tapon commune, deputy chief Yoeum Doum, 60, said. …
Evacuation sites in Banteay Meanchey’s Mongkul Borei district look like slums; lean-tos precariously border the highway pavement as children play games while watching over poultry, their backs to the nearby traffic. …
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/raft-complications
