By Chun Sakada,
VOA Khmer Phnom Penh
17 April 2008
A 12-year-old girl was killed and hundreds made homeless in a monsoon storm in Poipet, victims said Thursday.
The storm, which tore through the former Khmer Rouge stronghold late Wednesday, destroyed 85 homes, leaving many impoverished families facing greater hardships.
“Eighty-five houses were destroyed by a cruel monsoon storm last night,” Yang Saruoth, 37, whose house was destroyed, told VOA Khmer by phone Thursday. “We are facing great suffering for losing our homes and property and need the assistance from NGOs and the government, because ours are the lives of poor construction and porter workers.”
The storm killed a 12-years old girl, “chickens and ducks,” he said.
Officials were busy Thursday cataloguing the damage, said Kong Koun, a communal police chief in Poipet.
Commune council member Khun Chanti said “all the victims” were facing difficulties after the storm.
“The local authorities are yet not taking care of the victims,” Khun Chanti said.
Nhim Vanda, vice president of the National Authority of Disaster Management, said Thursday his office had not yet received information on the storm.
Last year, a similar storm in Poipet destroyed 100 homes.
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