Cambodia's flood evacuees return home, aid relief continues

Cambodia's flood evacuees in many parts of the country have finally returned home, but aid relief to those who were seriously affected will continue for at least three more months, a government official said Saturday. Keo Vy, spokesman of the National Committee for Disaster Management, said, "By tomorrow, some 51,000 families who had evacuated from homes due to flooding will all return to their homes." He said there are just about 1,000 families who are preparing to return homes, while the rest had already done so. However, he said, despite the flooding has subsided from the affected areas across the country, aid relief "will be continued for at least three more months for those who are severely affected. " He said the flooding that began in August has left 18 Cambodian cities and provinces submerged. It has been the worst flooding that hit the region in a decade, with at least 250 people killed and 1.5 million people affected. According to Keo Vy, more than 350,000 people have so far been provided with aid relief. The flood is estimated to have cost Cambodia 521 million U.S. dollars, mainly in damages of rice paddies and roads. Many foreign countries and charitable organizations have provided relief assistance to Cambodia, including Japan, China, South Korea, Thailand, Laos, Singapore, Germany, the United States, France, and Australia as well as the United Nations agencies and Asian Development Bank.