As the floods in SEA continue, the Cambodian and Thai government seem to be ill-prepared and underestimate the real situation and its consequences.
ទឹកជន់លិចសាលារៀនគថ្លង់របស់អង្គការគ្រួសារថ្មី។ - Flooded school - Phnom Penh Niroth commune 03 (Ouk Savborey, RFA)
Worst floods in 10 years.
The worst floods in Cambodia for more than a decade, that have killed 247 people, mainly from drowning, and displaced more than 100,000 families, could worsen, international aid organizations and NGOs warned.
Problem # 1: food security.
A major concern is food security. Now and in the longer-term there’s the risk of severe food shortages due to rice fields being submerged, grain stores swept away and the December harvest being lost.
In addition to a severe shortage of food, the families, whose villages are submerged, usually have no medical care and scant shelter. Children, old people and the pregnant women get sick with flu, fever and diarrhea. UNICEF health staff reported of diarrhea outbreaks in Svay Rieng and Kampong Thom provinces. But the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that the Ministry of Health had not detected any such outbreaks in flood-hit areas. Haven’t they been in the flooded regions and provinces?
National Emergency.
But as more detailed assessments are made by international NGOs, the scope of what the government has yet to declare a national emergency is becoming clear.
More than 400,000 children have been unable to start school this year because of the flooding, which has damaged 1,138 schools nationwide, according to the latest report from the UN Disaster Management Team. But according to the National Committee for Disaster Management, not a single school in the province of Battambang has been damaged by the flooding. Have they been in Battambang?
More:
- http://kimedia.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/ki-media2-ki-media-floods-and-regional-disaster-preparedness-too-little-too-late-%E2%80%93-analysis/
- http://www.worldwaterday.org/wwday/2001/thematic/floods.html
- http://www.ki-media.co.cc/2011/10/ki-media-flooded-houses-in-phnom-penh.html
- http://www.ki-media.co.cc/2011/10/ki-media-cambodia-floods-set-to-worsen.html