Australia to Contribute to Flood Relief

Australia announced yesterday it would grant Cambodia up to 2 million Australian dollars ($2.03 million) to provide emergency aid for the tens of thousands of flood victims across the country. With almost 10 percent of Cambodia's rice crops already destroyed, fears of food shortages are mounting among flood stricken families and relief workers providing assistance to victims. In a statement, the Australian Embassy said it would contribute up to AU$1 million for NGOs to support the Cambodian Red Cross to deliver food, water and shelter. A further AU$1 million for the World Food Program would be used to address food shortages caused by the loss of crops. More than 400,000 hectares of rice paddies have been flooded and 200,000 hectares destroyed, said Keo Vy, Cabinet chief for Disaster Management. "We worry about floods in Kompong Chhnang, Siem Reap and Kompong Thom because they are not subsiding," he said. Due to the severe impact on the country's rice crop, some buyers in unaffected areas of Phnom Penh are beginning to stockpile rice over fears that rice prices will increase, according to the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (Cedac). "The people do not need to buy and stock rice because the floods do not strongly affect rice production for the whole country," Cedac said in a statement. Cedac Director Yang Saing Koma said that in some parts of the country, that have escaped flooding, rice was growing better that usual. One kilogram of fragrant broken rice, currently cost 3,500 riel compared to 3,000 riel a year ago. Flood aid may also be on the horizon from the European Union.