Villagers seen fleeing to safety area after the dam collapse (Photo: Neay Keub, Koh Santepheap newspaper)
Views from the location of the accident (Photo: Koh Santepheap newspaper)Emergency situation due to the collapse a dam holding several million cubic meters of water
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Kampot Province – Villagers in 3 communes sounded an emergency alarm with pagoda drums past midnight on 30 October 2007. The emergency announcement was made so that other villagers pay heeds and move out of their houses located downstream from a dam retaining a 15 million cubic meters water reservoir which was about to collapse. The reservoir held by the dam extends over an area of 600 hectares and surrounded by mountains located in Kon Sat commune, Kampot district, Kampot province.
After sounding the emergency alarm at 3 in the morning on 30 October, the dam collapsed forcing villagers from Bos Nhenh and Kon Sat villages, Kon Sat commune, to flee for safety. The earth embankment of the dam collapsed one section at a time as cracks started to appear on the embankment. The collapse was accompanied by a scary loud noise as the water started to gush out of the dam breach. Frightened by the collapse, villagers fled with their children from their houses located near the collapsed dam. Large amount of the water breached the earth embankment and gushed toward the sea. The water flow was slowed by a railroad track separating the dam and the sea.
Khuy Sean, Kampot district governor, told Koh Santepheap that the network of water reservoirs extends over an area of 600-hectare, and it is surrounded by mountains and hills, the dam collapsed at 3:00 AM. He added that this large water reservoir was built before the Vietnamese invasion on 07 January, and it was repaired later on. Khut Sean said the capacity of the reservoir is 15 million cubic meters, and some portion of the reservoir has a depth of 7, 4, and 5-meter, with an average depth is about 2.5-meter. Khuy Sean added that villagers from 3 communes are using water from this reservoir for farming during the dry season: they are from the Kon Sat, Trapeang Pring and Trapeang Sangker communes. Khuy Sean said that the several thousands of hectares of crops are destroyed because of the collapse. He also indicated that the joint authority forces are ordered to help transport the villagers to safer places.
Khuy Sean said that at 9:00 AM on 30 October, the concrete columns holding the reservoir gate fell down because of the pressure exerted by the water gush.
Khuy Sean said that at 01:00 AM, water started to seep through small holes along the base of the dam, these holes are called dragon holes by the villagers (piping failure is the technical term for this type of dam failure). At 3:00 AM, a loud explosion noise was heard causing panic among the villagers who started to flee from the area.
Khoy Khun Sea, the Kampot deputy provincial governor, said that the commune and district authorities asked the monks to sound the emergency drums in the middle of night to officially announce to the villagers to be careful about the situation, and to start moving out of the area gradually, especially for those living near the dam. Khoy Khun Sea indicated that up until 11:00 AM on 30 October, no villagers were killed in the incident because of the early warning signs observed on the dam. He added that a stretch of 30-meter-long of the dam breached, and nothing can be done to hold it until the reservoir drained out, this could take at least 2-day. During the dam collapse, MP Von Pena also visited the disaster area.
The reporters on the spot indicated that the villagers were extremely scared when people started yelling to each other about the dam break, mixed with the noise of the dam collapse and the fearsome gush of water flow. It is not yet known how many homes were destroyed by the accident, nor the extent of crop damage. Based on the latest news, the situation seems to calm down, but the extent of the damage on the railroad tracks which is located across the water flow path is not known yet either.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Kampot Province – Villagers in 3 communes sounded an emergency alarm with pagoda drums past midnight on 30 October 2007. The emergency announcement was made so that other villagers pay heeds and move out of their houses located downstream from a dam retaining a 15 million cubic meters water reservoir which was about to collapse. The reservoir held by the dam extends over an area of 600 hectares and surrounded by mountains located in Kon Sat commune, Kampot district, Kampot province.
After sounding the emergency alarm at 3 in the morning on 30 October, the dam collapsed forcing villagers from Bos Nhenh and Kon Sat villages, Kon Sat commune, to flee for safety. The earth embankment of the dam collapsed one section at a time as cracks started to appear on the embankment. The collapse was accompanied by a scary loud noise as the water started to gush out of the dam breach. Frightened by the collapse, villagers fled with their children from their houses located near the collapsed dam. Large amount of the water breached the earth embankment and gushed toward the sea. The water flow was slowed by a railroad track separating the dam and the sea.
Khuy Sean, Kampot district governor, told Koh Santepheap that the network of water reservoirs extends over an area of 600-hectare, and it is surrounded by mountains and hills, the dam collapsed at 3:00 AM. He added that this large water reservoir was built before the Vietnamese invasion on 07 January, and it was repaired later on. Khut Sean said the capacity of the reservoir is 15 million cubic meters, and some portion of the reservoir has a depth of 7, 4, and 5-meter, with an average depth is about 2.5-meter. Khuy Sean added that villagers from 3 communes are using water from this reservoir for farming during the dry season: they are from the Kon Sat, Trapeang Pring and Trapeang Sangker communes. Khuy Sean said that the several thousands of hectares of crops are destroyed because of the collapse. He also indicated that the joint authority forces are ordered to help transport the villagers to safer places.
Khuy Sean said that at 9:00 AM on 30 October, the concrete columns holding the reservoir gate fell down because of the pressure exerted by the water gush.
Khuy Sean said that at 01:00 AM, water started to seep through small holes along the base of the dam, these holes are called dragon holes by the villagers (piping failure is the technical term for this type of dam failure). At 3:00 AM, a loud explosion noise was heard causing panic among the villagers who started to flee from the area.
Khoy Khun Sea, the Kampot deputy provincial governor, said that the commune and district authorities asked the monks to sound the emergency drums in the middle of night to officially announce to the villagers to be careful about the situation, and to start moving out of the area gradually, especially for those living near the dam. Khoy Khun Sea indicated that up until 11:00 AM on 30 October, no villagers were killed in the incident because of the early warning signs observed on the dam. He added that a stretch of 30-meter-long of the dam breached, and nothing can be done to hold it until the reservoir drained out, this could take at least 2-day. During the dam collapse, MP Von Pena also visited the disaster area.
The reporters on the spot indicated that the villagers were extremely scared when people started yelling to each other about the dam break, mixed with the noise of the dam collapse and the fearsome gush of water flow. It is not yet known how many homes were destroyed by the accident, nor the extent of crop damage. Based on the latest news, the situation seems to calm down, but the extent of the damage on the railroad tracks which is located across the water flow path is not known yet either.
4 comments:
Thank God that there is no fatality here. I hope we can pinpoint the cause of the failure and use this knowledge to our advantage in the future when building new dams. The challenge with this type of project is to keep the foundation from sliding in the muddy ground then crack and fail....
I wonder if the dam was built during khmer rough. This could explain why it collapsed. The gov't official should have inspected the dam.
Yes, it could well be, because the Khmer Rouge is very weak in this area. Good thinking, mate (10:14).
Wow, I just caught a short clip of this incident on TVK, and indeed, it looks like a mud shifting and sliding issue.
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