A Swiss Christian NGO has begun distributing 27,300 kg of rice to 22 villages in Takeo and Prey Veng provinces.
Noe Fantilage, project officer for the relief effort at Swiss Interchurch Aid Cambodia, or HEKS, said the emergency distribution is the first of two efforts aimed at helping flood victims.
Villagers were given rice plus food packs containing sugar, mung beans, noodles and other food. In the course of the distribution, HEKS workers also collected precise data on flood damage in each of the villages.
Workers also plan emergency food distributions in 10 villages in Prey Veng.
Germany also has pledged $20,000 in aid for Kampot and Kompong Thom provinces.
For example, in the 12 villages in Takeo province, 648 households were destroyed out of a total of 854 homes occupied by 4,582 people of the 1,264 hectares of rice and fruit trees, 1,239 were flooded, where 4,408 people live in 889 households.
Noe Fantilage said the second phase of the program, to begin in November, will provide tools and seeds for replanting to the villagers.
He said HEKS, which began its work in Cambodia in 1979, works to reduce poverty and guarantee a stable food supply in rural areas. The NGO spends about $400,000 per year here and employs 92 people.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also received letters from the governments of Burma and Cuba expressing concern for flood victims.
