Ketsana’s costs pile up in K Thom

Photo by: WORLD VISION

Villagers displaced by Typhoon Ketsana bide their time at a makeshift shelter in Siem Reap province’s Sandan commune.

Friday, 09 October 2009 15:03 Chhay Channyda

AS the Kingdom continues to evaluate the destruction inflicted in the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana, officials in Kampong Thom province say they are only beginning to get a handle on the level of damage.

Provincial Governor Chhun Chhorn said the total amount of damage in his province, Cambodia’s hardest-hit, was still unknown.

“The floodwaters are still like rivers, and it has hardly gone down,” he said. “Most of the roads in the districts are flooded, except roads in the towns.”

Chhun Chhorn said that around 3,000 families have been seriously affected, but that the figure could rise as receding floodwaters allow access to more remote areas of the province.

Over 30,000 hectares of rice paddies have been affected by the storm, he added, including over 17,000 hectares that have been completely destroyed.

“I do not calculate yet how much money we lost from agriculture, but I can say that we have lost a lot more than in other provinces. It could be double,” he said.

In Stung Treng province, Governor Loy Sophat said that 3,000 families remain affected by storm damage.

He added that 3,000 hectares of rice paddies were destroyed in the aftermath of the typhoon, and that the total agricultural cost to the province may be as much as US$3 million.