Amid a pandemic that has hit Cambodia’s people with full-force, they have now been affected by a severe tropical storm triggered rains causing floods in 19 of 25 provinces in the country. The latest tragedy impacts thousands, with villagers losing their homes and all of their hard-earned rice harvest. It takes six months from seed to harvest to grow rice. For many of the villagers, the rice is their only source of food for the year, which means the loss of this year’s crop is devastating. They have been left with nothing. The Advancing Life Foundation and ASEA are teaming up to send immediate assistance to those affected by the flooding.
According to the National Committee for Disaster Management, flash floods have left at least 18 people dead and forced the evacuation of 25,192 people. A total of 53,169 families or 212,676 people have been affected. A total of 51,133 houses, 439 schools, 137, almost 400 acres of rice fields, 166, 771 acres of subsidiary crops, and many roads, bridges, canals have been destroyed or damaged. The provinces of Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, and Pursat, are the worst affected areas. As of October 19th, more than 131,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed, and over 12,200 households are displaced.
For the past year, the ASEA the Advancing Life Foundation has been working with Vision Cambodia to provide clean drinking water, plant gardens, open schools, and provide newborn kits and showers to medical clinics. Some of the areas where this work has taken place are the same areas that were hit the hardest. Vision Cambodia is now distributing the food kits to the families that have been impacted by the flooding. Each kit includes 25 kg rice, ten cans of fish, six bottles of fish sauce, 1 kg salt, two cans of sweet milk, and 1 kg of sugar.
The foundation started direct fundraising on October 21st, with ASEA pledging to match any donations made to the Cambodia disaster relief effort up to $10,000. The foundation has raised $13,000 and sent $23,000 of aid to affected areas on October 22nd. This fundraising effort allowed In total, 600 families have been given a month’s supply of food. Vision Cambodia will be working with the medical clinics to assess their needs to reopen, thanks to donors and ALF partnership volunteers’ generous efforts.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology finds that the Mekong water level will continue to rise over the next few days, causing additional severe flooding in many areas. The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) calls the flooding incident a “deadly double disaster” following the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. “These floods are the last straw and will push millions of people further towards the brink of poverty,” Red Cross official Christopher Rassi said. “Hundreds of thousands of people are in urgent need of emergency shelter, safe drinking water, food, and income support in the coming days and weeks to prevent a larger humanitarian crisis.”
If you would like to aid the ASEA Advancing Life Foundation’s efforts and help those in need, please make a contribution at this Advancing Life Foundation Cambodia link. Your gift goes further in 2020 and throughout 2021 when you make it a monthly pledge! The foundation’s corporate partner, ASEA, is matching all donations throughout 2021 given as part of a monthly pledge—so select the Monthly option when you give, and every contribution will have double the impact on worthy causes worldwide!
