A ferry crosses the swollen Mekong River Monday near Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh. (Photo: AFP/Getty)Cambodia seeks U.N. aid; Vietnam orders evacuations
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (Reuters) -- Cambodia and Vietnam are trying to rush aid to thousands of people left homeless from heavy rain that have claimed more than four dozen lives in the two countries.
In Cambodia, torrential rains swelling the annual Mekong floods have killed at least eight Cambodians and damaged several thousand hectares (acres) of paddy fields, officials said.
The government was seeking United Nations help to get food to thousands of villagers made homeless by the floods, Nhim Vanda, deputy chairman of the national disaster committee, told Reuters on Monday.
Cambodia's Red Cross had distributed food to nearly 10,000 people in the southern province of Kampot, the hardest hit, but others were still awaiting help, provincial governor Thach Khorn said.
Four people were killed in Kampot, where the floods had damaged more than 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of paddy fields, he said.
In the western province of Kampong Speu, a 14-year-old girl was swept away by a flash flood while cutting grass to feed cattle and two children drowned in the northeastern province of Kratie, officials said.
Nhim Vanda said that while the floods had damaged rice crops in the short term, they might be beneficial overall.
"Floods have killed people and destroyed infrastructures, but at the same time they are also bringing fertile marsh soil," he said.
The floods also damaged roads, bridges and schools, officials said.
In Vietnam, flooding, landslides and lightning have killed 15 people and left one missing since this past weekend in Vietnam, bringing the country's toll in a week of torrential rain to 42, according to reports in that country.
Thousands have been evacuated to higher ground as water levels in the northern region's main rivers were expected to continue rising with more rainfall forecast for the coming week, state media quoted a government report as saying on Sunday.
Northern Vietnam is not the country's key area for rice production, but more rain also was expected in the southern Mekong Delta rice basket in coming days. However, most of the summer-autumn rice crop has already been harvested.
Natural disasters, especially floods and storms, kill several hundred people in Vietnam each year, mainly during the storm season between May and October.
This year's rains and floods caused no damage to the coffee crop in the Central Highlands where coffee trees are planted on higher ground.
Officials said four people were killed in a landslide in the northern province of Yen Bai on Saturday. Lightning killed two people in Nghe An province and two more on the outskirts of capital Hanoi while five were swept away in flash flooding.
Sunday's Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said two people drowned as their boat capsized early on Saturday on a river in the southern province of Dong Nai.
Another man was swept away and reported missing in the northern province of Phu Tho after he tried to save his fish pond, the government report said.
As of Friday, at least 27 people were reported killed in northern and central regions of the Southeast Asian country.
In Cambodia, torrential rains swelling the annual Mekong floods have killed at least eight Cambodians and damaged several thousand hectares (acres) of paddy fields, officials said.
The government was seeking United Nations help to get food to thousands of villagers made homeless by the floods, Nhim Vanda, deputy chairman of the national disaster committee, told Reuters on Monday.
Cambodia's Red Cross had distributed food to nearly 10,000 people in the southern province of Kampot, the hardest hit, but others were still awaiting help, provincial governor Thach Khorn said.
Four people were killed in Kampot, where the floods had damaged more than 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of paddy fields, he said.
In the western province of Kampong Speu, a 14-year-old girl was swept away by a flash flood while cutting grass to feed cattle and two children drowned in the northeastern province of Kratie, officials said.
Nhim Vanda said that while the floods had damaged rice crops in the short term, they might be beneficial overall.
"Floods have killed people and destroyed infrastructures, but at the same time they are also bringing fertile marsh soil," he said.
The floods also damaged roads, bridges and schools, officials said.
In Vietnam, flooding, landslides and lightning have killed 15 people and left one missing since this past weekend in Vietnam, bringing the country's toll in a week of torrential rain to 42, according to reports in that country.
Thousands have been evacuated to higher ground as water levels in the northern region's main rivers were expected to continue rising with more rainfall forecast for the coming week, state media quoted a government report as saying on Sunday.
Northern Vietnam is not the country's key area for rice production, but more rain also was expected in the southern Mekong Delta rice basket in coming days. However, most of the summer-autumn rice crop has already been harvested.
Natural disasters, especially floods and storms, kill several hundred people in Vietnam each year, mainly during the storm season between May and October.
This year's rains and floods caused no damage to the coffee crop in the Central Highlands where coffee trees are planted on higher ground.
Officials said four people were killed in a landslide in the northern province of Yen Bai on Saturday. Lightning killed two people in Nghe An province and two more on the outskirts of capital Hanoi while five were swept away in flash flooding.
Sunday's Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said two people drowned as their boat capsized early on Saturday on a river in the southern province of Dong Nai.
Another man was swept away and reported missing in the northern province of Phu Tho after he tried to save his fish pond, the government report said.
As of Friday, at least 27 people were reported killed in northern and central regions of the Southeast Asian country.
2 comments:
Hun Sen and Nhem Vanda must tried to raise monies from their wifes and their friends in Cambodia because everyone in Cambodia around Hun sen seem to be very rich. They are all muti-millionnaire. They must try to put some monies back to communities in a good cause. They have stolen too much from Cambodians. Now it is a good time that they must contribute some back. COME ON !!!
Hun Sen is taking advantage of natural disaster for CCP for 2008. He's such a cunning beaver.
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