The grant fromADB’s Asia Pacific Disaster Response Facility (APDRF) will be used toprovide rice seeds, make temporary repairs to irrigation canals andrelated facilities, and rapidly restore connectivity of damaged ruralroads.
Eric Sidgwick, ADB’s Cambodia CountryDirector, said that ADB’s support is a direct response to the need foraction on quick road repairs to ensure the smooth delivery of reliefsupplies and the provision of rice seeds to enable replanting beforewaters recede.
Estimates suggest at least 440 km ofnational roads and 3,693 km of rural roads have been affected by thefloods, which began in September. More than 240,000 hectares oftransplanted rice or seedlings have been affected and large numbers ofschools and hospitals severely damaged.
The impactof the flood is expected to be more extensive than that experiencedafter floods in 2000 and 2011, since the period of inundation has beenprolonged, hampering initial efforts to mitigate destruction. In someareas, waters still have not receded, making damage assessmentsdifficult.
Cambodia received a 3 million USD grantfrom the APD RF after flooding in 2011, which was used to help rebuildcritical infrastructure such as roads, culverts and bridges, allowingsurvivors to be reconnected and livelihoods to be restored, according toADB.-VNA