Roundup: Cambodian Government Focuses Its Effort on Flood ReliefThe Royal Government of Cambodia, headed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, has mobilized all sources to help its people fight against the flood, relieve the sufferings of the flood affected people and reconstruct their homeland.Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered all executive departments of the cabinet to cancel all unnecessary meetings, seminars and discussions, in order to go down to the affected villages and communes to offer emergency assistance to the people. King Norodom Sihanouk returned to Cambodia from Beijing earlier in order to fight against the flood together with his countrymen, he told Prime Minister Hun Sen upon his arrival at the Phnom Penh Pochendong International Airport on September 16. And the King and Queen Monineath Sihanouk donated 300 tons of rice to the flood affected areas. Hun Sen personally surveyed the flood areas in many provinces of the country following his return from the UN Millennium Summit on September 12. Everywhere he went, he comforted the affected people, distributed relief supplies to them, encouraged them to overcome difficulties caused by flooding and reconstruct home by themselves. The Prime Minister also highly praised the people for their traditional spirit of helping each other, namely " Khmer people help Khmer people". Inspecting the flood affected villages in Peamro district, Prey Veng province, eastern Cambodia on September 15, Hun Sen said to the villagers that although the flood was much more serious than that of 1996, so long as the Cambodian people unite and help each other, they can conquer the disaster. He asked the people to stay calm when the water level of the Bassac River continued rising and threatened to inundate the capital city of Phnom Penh. He, meanwhile, asked the municipal governor Chea Sophara to watch closely the changes of the flood and prepare practical measures to deal with possible dangerous situation. President of the Senate Chea Sim and his Madame on September 18 went to the disaster areas in Prey Veng province to distribute relief materials to the people there. And he also advised people to pay more attention to dietetic hygiene so as to prevent diseases. Eighteen out of twenty four provinces and cities are affected by the flood, and four provinces located along the Mekong River, namely Kompong Cham, Kandal, Prey Veng and Takeo suffered the most. Hun Sen has appealed to the government, police and military officials to take immediate actions to help the flood victims. He asked them to go to the flood front and do practical deeds for the people. Kratie Governor Loy Sophat, Stung Treng Governor Ourn Bora, the Second Deputy Governor of Kompong Cham province Mao Phirum, and other provincial chiefs and senior officials all went to the flood front to personally direct the effort to evacuate the affected people to safe places, fortify the river banks, deliver food and clothing to the people and give other necessary aid to the victims. Thousands of military police and policemen have been reinforcing the banks of the Mekong River and the Bassac River which is flowing through Phnom Penh. About 40,000 sandbags were filled to prevent flood waters from inundating the capital city of Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara, together with other municipal officials, inspected the situation of the flooding nearly every day and night during the period of water rising in the Bassac River. He made proper arrangement for almost 300 families living on the banks of the Bassac River and helped them move to higher places. Madame Bun Rany Hun Sen, president of the Cambodian Red Cross, on September 19 met several domestic and foreign officials, and received four donations although she was seriously ill on that day. On Tuesday, she, together with other members of the Red Cross, went to Kompong Chhlang province to inspect the disaster and give emergency supplies to the people. A report from the National Committee for Disaster Management said that until September 20, one hundred and thirty one people died while hundreds of thousands of hectares of rice fields were destroyed. The organization estimated that the damage caused by the flood cost at least 60 million U.S. dollars. Hun Sen has appealed to foreign governments and the international community to provide emergency aid for the flood victims in the country. So far the British government has donated 375,000 U.S. dollars to aid the affected people, Australia has pledged to give 146,000 U.S. dollars in assistance, the French government has announced a grant of 20,000 U.S. dollars, the American government has given 25,000 U.S. dollars and Japan has donated 187,000 U.S. dollars for facilities and another 100,000 U.S. dollars in cash for emergency aid. The Chinese Red Cross has provided 30,000 U.S. dollars in cash to the Cambodian Red Cross for relieving the disaster. Up to Wednesday, the water level in upstream of the Mekong River began receding while the water level at Phnom Penh still remained at 11.19 meters which is close to the warning level of inundation. |
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