Aftermath of the Phnom Penh fireball

By Stephen Ford
Demotix

Mr. Phat and Ms Leakenha, who lives in the community, say that the community have been informed by government officials that they have two choices: Stay here and rebuild or relocate to a community area out of Phnom Penh.
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It seems probable that few, if any, of the dwellers will be able to remain in this “prime” residential area in the long term.

A fireball started in a poor community in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, razed 257 houses and left 407 families homeless. The fire was ignited in the night on the 9th March 2010. The one attending fire engine was no match for the blaze and the community housing was totally destroyed. Phnom Penh, 13/03/2010.

Nighttime on Tuesday 9th March 2010. A firebomb ignited on the western side of a Phnom Penh slum community gutted 257 homes. A total of 407 families living in the "104 and 105 community" were rendered homeless overnight. One solitary fire engine attended and saved the end house from total destruction. Charred stakes, memorial markers to the lost homes, penetrate through the foundation layer of stagnant detritus.

Children and adults sift the debris for treasure-metal cutlery or any surviving object.

Cash was burned with the infrastructure; these people do not trust the banks with their money, choosing to secrete the notes in under floor compartments in their homes.

Today saw some families started claiming their land plots on the effluent impregnated swamp, fashioning new homes before the rainy season arrives next month. Rebuilding what remains of their lives.

Mr. Sambat Phat coordinates the food aid distribution for the community, provided by the charity "Solidarity for the Urban Poor". 5 kg of rice and 2 boxes of noodles per family. Aid, 4 distributions today but he has “no idea” if more aid will follow tomorrow. Families cling onto their food lifeline under the cover of tarpaulin gazebos, unsure of what the future holds. Queues form outside the hastily erected toilet tents in the middle of the wasteland, access on rough planks so that one does not sink into the poisoned swamp. Most inhabitants stare in disbelief at the bubbling stillness which previously formed the under house sewage system.

What next?

Mr. Phat and Ms Leakenha, who lives in the community, say that the community have been informed by government officials that they have two choices: Stay here and rebuild or relocate to a community area out of Phnom Penh. Ms Leakhena lost everything in the fire, including all her University studies. "My family has no money to rebuild our home here". "We were away from the house when the fire started and only have the clothes we were in and our mobile phones".

Note Well. 104/5 community was constructed adjacent to the disused and dilapidated rail line and stock maintenance building. New Governmental legislation demands a minimum separation between housing and rail transport infrastructure, which will probably result in most of this land deemed as unlawful for housing development.

Approximately 407 families inhabited the houses, although officially only 150 were rented; house sharing is common and a necessity in such inherently poor communities.

It seems probable that few, if any, of the dwellers will be able to remain in this “prime” residential area in the long term.

According to a number of reliable local sources, the fire was started in the “room, which a “drug user” rented from his grandmother”. During the previous month it is alleged that he only intermittently inhabited the room when bringing personal effects to store. On the evening the fireball ignited, around the location of his room, a strong westerly wind ensured the near total destruction of the remaining housing stock in this close community. Remarkably, no one was killed or injured in the fire; the only person missing is the “drug addict” who has not been seen since in Phnom Penh.

Some support for the displaced people now has arrived and a water supply has been connected by a local NGO although as Ms Leakhena says “ we have no toilet and only have water today for a wash”. “It will be impossible to find work living in these conditions”; she was recently made redundant from her waitress role in a popular tourist café as the peak season has passed.

Here is a community desperate for support. The fireball stole their homes and probably the location on which they were built. Currently they have little protection from the sun or from the imminent flooding of the site in the rainy season. There are rumors that the Prime Minister will visit the site soon, let’s hope that he brings rapid and rigorous support and aid for these people with him.