Severe floods hit SE Asia, claim 200 lives, thousands flee
Severe floods hit SE Asia, claim 200 lives, thousands flee
PHUM TRANG SVAY, Cambodia (Agencies): The death toll from
severe flooding in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam reached over
200 on Wednesday as torrential rains continued to wreak havoc
among villagers, destroying bridges, roads and crops in the
countryside.
Thousands of people from the three countries have been forced
to flee.
The destruction prompted Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to
quip: "I could fight against Pol Pot, but I can not fight against
God."
Vice Chairman of the National Disaster Management Committee
Nhim Vanda told AFP another 13 people had died overnight after
flood waters continued to break the banks of the Mekong and Tonle
Sap rivers.
The victims took the death toll from the floods to 35 in
Cambodia, since counting began on Aug. 22. The latest deaths
included five children.
Nhim Vanda said 10 of Cambodia's 24 provinces had been
severely flooded, forcing 560,100 people to flee their homes.
Twenty bridges, 52 kilometers (32 miles) of roads, and 779
kilometers of unsealed roads have been swept away.
Another 157,809 hectares of ricefields along the Mekong River
were under water and 86,327 hectares had been damaged.
Hun Sen has appealed for international help to combat the
floods and said Wednesday around 135,100 people were in urgent
need of food supplies.
The prime minister also lashed out at foreign forestry
companies for damaging two main bridges on National Road 6,
linking the capital and the eastern province of Kampong Cham,
which were swept away by the floods.
He said overweight trucks coupled with the saturated soil had
led to the collapse of the bridges, and he threatened to cancel
logging licenses if violations continued.
"I must declare this is an emergency, and you should stop," he
said referring to the logging transports. "If you carry over-
weight logs, I will terminate your forestry concessions and close
down your factories immediately."
Meanwhile in Bangkok, the death toll from floods that have
ravaged northern Thailand in recent weeks has risen to 170,
officials said on Wednesday as the UN held a regional meeting on
water-related disasters.
In the hardest-hit province of Phetchabun, where flash floods
claimed 126 lives two weeks ago, 11 people are still listed as
missing, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The floods have affected some 1.7 million people in 35
provinces, forcing 6,407 from their homes and causing damage
estimated at more than 1.4 billion baht ($31.7 million).
Houses, farmland, livestock and roads have been claimed by
floodwaters which have also wracked other countries in the
region, prompting the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific (ESCAP) to hold a regional meeting.
The Inter-regional Seminar on Water-Related Disaster Reduction
and Response this week brings together 120 experts and disaster
relief organizations who will draw up plans to lessen the
devastation wrought by floods.
In Hanoi, soldiers, militiamen and youth volunteers helped
move thousands more people from flood stricken parts of southern
Vietnam on Wednesday after dangerously high waters killed at
least 20 people over the past week.
Disaster management officials said the homes of more than
80,000 people had been inundated in several provinces of the
Mekong Delta rice bowl and the coffee-growing Central Highlands.
As of Wednesday, seven people had died in the Delta province
of Dong Thap bordering Cambodia, three in neighboring An Giang
and eight in the coffee growing province of Daklak. Two more died
in Lam Dong, a highland province bordering Daklak.
Most of those killed have been children.
Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their
homes and officials said soldiers and youth volunteers were
helping to move thousands more from stricken areas and to
reinforce flood defenses.