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 this month, with nearly 28,000 hectares completely destroyed, the Agriculture Ministry announced Saturday in a circular sent to local agriculture officials. Continued flooding in 10 provinces around the Tonle Sap lake and along the Mekong River has left 62 dead, about 20,000 homes flooded and 5,000 families displaced, the National Committee for Disaster Management announced on Friday…