Thursday, 21 October 2010

Floods cause 70 mln USD in damage in Cambodia

via CAAI

October 20 2010

Storms that drenched 13 provinces over the past 10 days caused an estimated 70 million US dollars in damage, destroyed thousands of hectares of rice paddy and killed at least eight people, local media reported on Tuesday, citing local officials.

"The first cost estimate may be almost half of last year's destruction caused by typhoon Ketsana, which was 131 million US dollars," the Cambodia Daily quoted Nhim Vanda, vice chairman for the National Committee for Disaster Management as saying.

He added that the 70 million US dollars would go toward rebuilding roads, irrigation system, bridges and villagers' homes.

"The most affected areas are Pursat province, Phnom Penh municipality and Banteay Meanchey province," Vanda said.

He estimated about 10,000 hectares of rice paddy fields across the country were also destroyed.

Deaths attributed to recent storms climbed to eight after a 5- year-old Preah Sihanouk boy was confirmed drowned at sea during heavy winds on Saturday, Stung Hav district governor Ban Sarun was quoted as saying.

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that floods that affects the country in recent weeks has caused more damage than Typhoon Ketsana last year.

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