Flood Report

According to the International Federation of the Red Cross this year’s floods caused 338 deaths and affected more than 3 million people (700,121 families) in Cambodia. Hundreds of thousands had to be evacuated to higher ground and have been living for the past 3-4 months in makeshift tents on top of dykes and roads.

Preliminary estimates of the Royal Government of Cambodia put the damage to infrastructure at $97 million, and the Cambodian National Committee for Disaster Management estimates that over 378,613 hectares of crops have been damaged or destroyed, a loss of more than $63 million. The ADB, taking into account the flood damage, recently lowered Cambodia’s growth rate for 2000 from 5% to 4% . Other economists have predicted that the floods will have a serious impact on Cambodia’s efforts of poverty alleviation and economic growth for the next few years.

Janne Riske, Director of Tabitha - Cambodia, writes about their efforts to provide flood relief for some of the families that Tabitha has been working with over the years. She reports that 2500 families (20,000 people) out of the 3200 families that Tabitha works with were affected by the floods.

27 October 2000: Yesterday I went to Prey Veng with my staff Heng and Hang down Highway 1, literally the highest point in the surrounding countryside. At first, we traveled by car. The waters had stopped lapping the highway. Now it just lay a few feet away. The surrounding countryside was denuded of its greenery, allowing us to see the hidden poverty of so many people. Then the highway came to an abrupt end, the flood waters had gouged a hole. It was a short boat ride past the gaping hole where military engineers were working on installing a makeshift bridge. This procedure was repeated several times before we reached the mighty Mekong River.

We needed to see several hundred families so went into the boat which grounded in the shallow waters; out of the boat into muck and water. The stench was unbelievable and we came face to face with hunger. The families were isolated, frightened, cold and hungry, house after house, no bigger than several meters tottering on water soaked sticks, walls broken, roofs with gaping holes, bamboo floors where much of the bamboo had rotted away. Children, parents and grandparents, struggling in small spaces, struggling to eat each day. We gave loans to 30 of our families. They needed to buy thatch to repair their homes. For the others, it was a time of waiting yet another week for the waters to recede.

NGO Profile: Tabitha -Cambodia

House 26, Street 294
P.O. Box 2361
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Tel/Fax: 855-23-721038
email: tabitha@forum.org.kh

Tabitha - Cambodia is a non-profit, Christian organization that enables the poorest of the poor in Cambodia to recognize and develop inherent skills and resources that result in a measurable and visible improvement in their lifestyle.

The program focuses on micro-enterprise and community development initiated through small business and cottage industry projects. Tabitha-Cambodia provides capital through loans with a ten-week repayment period.

The “Small Business Enterprise Project” provides small, no-interest, revolving loans to assist participants in building and sustaining a successful business. The loan repayment schedule is set at a specific and affordable rate that is repaid on a weekly basis. The objective of the “Cottage Industry Program” is to provide long-term employment at a fair, piece-rate wage through production of marketable goods. The workers are paid a weekly income based on work completed in their homes.

In support groups of ten, workers are placed into a “dream cycle” which encourages them to “dream” of creating their own business and taking charge of their own lives. Participants work in groups, reviewing proposals, writing contracts, and monitoring progress. This approach fosters community responsibility and provides encouragement to fulfill individual and collective “dreams.”