Lack of Police 'Professionalism' Found in Bridge Disaster

A female victim of the deadly stampede, on Monday November 22, 2010, is carried onto a rescue truck, by Phnom Penh police. Hou Chanthy, 47, lost her daughter, said, "I'm thankful for the donations, but the donations will never compensate me.” (Photo: by Heng Reaksmey)

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 30 November 2010

“The accident is our largest experience for the government and the authorities." [... but not when it comes to accountability!]

The government committee investigating last week's bridge disaster has said the police and military police must now be better trained for crowd management to avoid future incidents.

The investigating committee stopped short of placing direct responsibility on police, city or Water Festival authorities, after thousands of people stampeded on a crowded bridge, killing 351 and injuring 395 people Nov. 22.

Prum Sokha, secretary of state for the Ministry of Interior and head of the investigating committee, said the crowded situation on the bridge exceeded the “preparedness and capacity” of security forces. He recommended a “build-up of professionalism” for police and military police to better handle large crowds in the future.

Council Minister Sok An, who is overseeing the investigation and response to victims, said the Diamond Bridge tragedy was an experience the government intended to learn from.

“We must prepare a plan for the future to avoid a stampede like this,” he told reporters. “The accident is our largest experience for the government and the authorities. We must hold a meeting to deeply consider the experience and to increase the professionalism of authorities like the police and military police.”

The government will study better methods of crowd management, security response, emergency response and other aspects of disaster preparedness, he said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday no one would be fired as a result of the disaster, and that no single person deserved the blame for what he called an accident caused by “carelessness.”

Meanwhile, families of victims have begun to receive donations from the public, the government and the owners of Koh Pich island. Each family is expected to receive a total $12,000 each from donations raised by television stations and other groups.

Hou Chanthy, 47, lost her daughter, Soung Channy, a garment worker, in the bridge stampede. She said she had so far received $5,000 and expected to receive more in coming days, through several distributions.

“I'm thankful for the donations,” she said. “But the donations will never compensate me.”

Politiktoons No. 102: America 2005 & 2010

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.com
and also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Southeast Asia Faces Rising Risks From Severe Weather

Photo: VOA Image

In Southeast Asia, people know well the risks that extreme weather can bring, and they worry that a warmer climate will increase those risks.

Bangkok 19 December 2009
Daniel Schearf
VOA News

When Typhoon Ketsana hit Manila this year, the crowded city's planners were stunned at the amount of rain that poured down in a short time. Houses here sit close to the ground, even though the land is lower than a lake nearby.

"The most concerned extreme events in Southeast Asia is probably storm - typhoon and tropical storm," said climate scientist Anond Snidvongs.

Dr. Anond Snidvongs, who has studied climate change for more than a decade, has analyzed storm data over the past 60 years. Storm frequency, he says, comes in cycles of 30 years. But, he warns, warmer global temperatures could bring more, and bigger, storms.

"We are going on the rise again, but that's due to normal cycles," he added. "But if you look into the Mekong delta, for example in Vietnam, it has shown the 30-year cycle, but the phase and amplitude is going up and then going up like that."

This means, he says, that the Philippines, the southern part of Vietnam and Cambodia will be hit with more storms than experienced in recent decades.

Here in Can Tho, in southern Vietnam, boats carrying goods converge on the Mekong River to trade.

Cuong is a trader from the nearby coastal province of Ben Tre. His job, he says, is vulnerable to weather changes.

"In the past, everything was fine, but in the last 10 years, there were so many storms," he said.

A storm destroyed his house in 2007, he says. And worse, storm surges have tainted the water supply with salt.

"We already have water shortage before. Now the water shortage is worse," he added.

In Southeast Asia, where millions of people are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as drought or unusually heavy rains, there are growing concerns for the future.

Hassan Moinuddin of the Asian Development Bank's Mekong Sub-Region Program says a warmer climate could cut almost seven percent off the region's gross domestic product by the end of this century, by reducing crops or forcing the relocation of communities.

"It not only will affect the growth and the economic development, but it will have a severe consequence especially on the disaster emergency relief funding that will be required," he explained.

As governments debate who is to shoulder greater responsibility for slowing climate change and paying for the damage, profound change, says Dr. Anond, should come from individuals.

"We need to live in harmony with climate," noted Dr. Anond.

For instance, houses should be built, taking into account their environment.

"Houses in our region used to have stilts a few meters above the ground in order to allow flood to stay there," he explained.

He hopes people will adapt their lifestyles according to the nature of their environment, and help them lessen the effects of climate change.

Borei Keila: Another disastrous relocation program in Kep Chuktema's "remarkable" Phnom Penh City

Ongoing demolition in Borei Keila

While some have moved into the newly built apartments (back), other are left on the building site without being informed what will happen next and all the while their houses are being dismantled

Lack of transparency by the authorities during the relocation process led to several heated discussion between the community and officials

As of today, the poorest were left camping in squalid conditions, uncertain of their fate and what will happen next

2007-05-23
Borei Keila Community Relocation, a derailed social project in Cambodia's capital

Licadho

In 2003 it was touted as a great leap forward into developing a social housing program, an alternative to the widespread forced land evictions in Cambodia. Four years later, in May 2007, men, women and children are living under tarpaulins amid the rubble of their demolished houses. This is the plight of families living at Borei Keila in the heart of Cambodia's capital.

A brief history

Borei Keila, located opposite the Bak Tuok High School in central Phnom Penh in Veal Vong commune of 7 Makara district, covers 14.12 hectares of land and it is divided into 10 communities. It houses at least 1,776 families —including 515 families who are house renters and 86 families who reportedly have HIV/AIDS. Villagers first settled on the land, the site of a former police training facility, in 1992.

In early 2003, in the lead up to the July 2003 general election, a "land-sharing" arrangement was proposed for Borei Keila, which would allow a private company to develop part of the area for its own commercial purposes while providing alternative housing to the residents there. The idea was hailed because, rather than the villagers being evicted, they would be compensated for the loss of their land by being given apartments in new buildings to be constructed on part of the site.

In June 2003, Prime Minister Hun Sen authorized a social land concession on approximately 4.6 hectares (30% of the total 14.12 hectares of land). Construction giant Phanimex Company was contracted by the government to construct 10 apartment buildings on 2 hectares of land for the villagers, in return for getting ownership of 2.6 hectares to commercially develop.

Municipal and district authorities conducted a survey of the area, and as a result a list of 1,776 families who should receive apartments was drawn up. As well as house owners, this included renters who had lived in Borei Keila for at least three years.

Construction on the first three of the 10 new apartment buildings began in September 2004.

Apartment Allocation Process

In March 2007 the first three buildings, A, B and C, were completed. On March 5, the Phnom Penh municipality allocated apartments in buildings A and B to 87 families. Over the next few weeks the municipality would allocate apartments in buildings A and B to a further 244 families. Allegations of corruption in the allocating of apartments were rife.

In order to clear land to make way for the construction of the next seven apartment buildings, the authorities quickly moved to evict other families from their houses. These families' homes were demolished without them being given apartments in the three buildings already constructed, leaving them at the mercy of corrupt community leaders and officials who demanded money in exchange for the promise of an apartment.

The reason for the authorities' haste was they wanted the land cleared in time to hold a televised ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the seven new buildings – days before the April 1 commune elections.

As the authorities still sought to present Borei Keila as a model inner-city development project which protected the housing rights of the poor, the reality was very different. More than 100 evicted families were camped in the rubble of destroyed houses on a small strip of land.

Alerted by the worsening situation, LICADHO and UN Habitat became involved and questioned local authorities over the lack of transparency in the allocation of apartments. It was evident that at least some of the homeless families living in squalid conditions were registered in the 2003 survey and eligible for apartments.

Days before the commune elections, authorities agreed to create a joint committee, including municipal and district officials, community representatives and LICADHO and UN Habitat, to review the cases of homeless families. The committee reviewed the cases of 90 families (mostly renters) and found that 28 of them were eligible for apartments. The list was submitted to the municipal governor for a final decision.

After the commune elections, the committee process fell apart. The municipal governor did not give approval for the 28 selected families to be given apartments. The municipality began to suggest that no families who had rented (rather than owned) houses at Borei Keila would be given free apartments – despite the fact that in 2003 the municipality had committed to giving apartments to all renters who had lived there for at least three years.

Finally, only four additional families received apartments – three of them were among the 28 families considered eligible by the committee, but the fourth was not. The remaining families were not told clearly whether their cases were definitely rejected or not, and there were renewed allegations of community representatives or officials seeking bribes in return for the promise of an apartment.

In addition, there are 28 other families – who are all affected by HIV/AIDS and were given temporary shelter in a large green shed at Borei Keila after their homes were demolished – whose cases have yet to be considered. At least some of them are also eligible for apartments but there is no indication of if and when they will get them.

Ongoing Difficulties

So far, the Phnom Penh municipality has only allocated apartments to just 335 families including 14 HIV/AIDS-affected families. This leaves 181 families without apartments in hazardous health conditions. According a survey conducted by LICADHO, of the 181 families there are 123 families living under tarpaulins in the debris of destroyed houses.

The 123 families living under tarpaulins, including 248 children and 6 HIV/AIDS-affected families, face many grueling hardships. Most pressing is the lack of sanitation, which along with poor nutrition, squalid living conditions and the coming rainy season, means their situation gets worse each day. Without proper shelter or toilets, living amongst building debris and dirty puddles of water, the villagers are at great risk of diarrhea and other illnesses. Most of the people do not go to work because they are perpetually waiting for a resolution to come and are afraid of losing their property if they leave.

The 28 HIV/AIDS-affected families who are temporarily staying in the green shed – which will likely flood in the rainy season – are particularly vulnerable to poor sanitary conditions and inadequate nutrition.

Medical and Food Assistance

LICADHO's medical team has been providing treatment for homeless villagers at Borei Keila two to three times a month. The team provides medical treatment to approximately 50 to 60 villagers including about 20 children each time. The team has also referred 9 pregnant women for medical checks. LICADHO has also provided food and material assistance to villagers who have HIV/AIDS.

The Borei Keila development – which was supposed to be a model to show the government's commitment to housing for the urban poor – has been derailed. The process to allocate apartments has been rife with allegations of corruption, nepotism, an unfair evaluation criteria and a lack of transparency and commitment to honoring past promises. Unless urgent action is taken by authorities to tackle these issues, and restore transparency and fairness to the process, the credibility of the project and the government will continue to suffer. The ultimate victims will remain the families living amongst the rubble as they hope to be given apartments.