The typhoon killed 14 people and
more than 20,165 families are affected, according to the latest update from The Provincial Committee for Disaster Management (PCDM) of Kompong Thom Province.
â€Houses have been
destroyed and large areas with rice crops are completely flooded. Everyones talking about how the weather has become unpredictable in the later years," says Sila Phung.Desperate need of food and water
Aid through ACT ACT
International is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.
In Cambodia, we work with our ACT partners to support
the affected of typhoon Ketsane and floodings from heavy rain.
Read more on our work in Cambodia
Food is desperately needed, particularly by the absolutely poor households. DanChurchAid parnter CWS Kompong Thom project estimates that around 20 per cent of the total affected households of the
province have no rice, which is the staple diet. The other affected populations including the better off households will also face food shortages in the next 15 days. Some villagers are reportedly
going into forests to dig for wild potato for daily consumption. It becomes more and more difficult to borrow rice from other villagers or lend others rice because every family needs prioritise its
own consumption. Some families are forced borrow money from private lenders at high interest rates to purchase food.
Health-related issues are also flagged as requiring urgent attention. Cold, fever,
stomach ache and diarrhea are increasing rapidly among communities, especially among children. These illnesses are caused by drinking contaminated water or playing in flooded water. CWS estimates
around 40 to 50 per cent of children have diarrhea and are losing weight. There have been no deaths from diarrhea so far. To date, there has been no health status assessment by the Government.
Read
more on the situation in Cambodia in the siterep from ACT300.000 DKR for emergency
aidDanChurchAid have granted an initial 300.000 DKR (59920 USD) for food, blankets, tarpaulins, mosquito nets and other equipment, to be distributed among the affected families.
Church World Service
(CWS), DanChurchAid partner, are assesing the needs and possibilites for aiding the reconstruction.
Bases on article by Lisbeth Engbo and ACT update
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River from Svay Chrum village in Kamday province towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and ...
