EU humanitarian assistance to help 70,000 flood victims in Cambodia get their lives back on track
28/06/2012 - Brussels/Phnom Penh: The European Commission is funding five new projects in Cambodia to assist 70,000 victims of the October 2011 floods which affected an estimated 1.7 million people across the country. The projects, costing €3.45 million, will be implemented by the European Commission's partner organisations with experience in the region: Oxfam GB, French Red Cross, ACTED, World Vision UK and a consortium of NGOs led by Danish Church Aid. This assistance is in addition to the €2.5 million which were made available by the European Commission immediately after the disaster in 2011. The projects will be managed by the Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) and are part of a regional funding decision totaling €11 million for the countries affected by last year’s floods: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines.
The Head of the EU Delegation to Cambodia, Ambassador Jean-Francois Cautain, explained: ”While the waters may have now receded the humanitarian needs have not. People are still in need and it is essential that we help reestablish livelihoods so that people can get back on their feet again.”
With the European Commission's funding, the partner organisations will reach 70,000 people across 12 provinces of Cambodia. The assistance will range from everything from basic health care to repairing wells damaged during the last floods. As well as alleviating short term needs, these projects have been designed so as to help people rebuild their lives for the long term; some people will receive seeds to replant their fields, others will get small grants to buy farm animals or restock small businesses so that they can quickly become independent again.
Background
The €24 million of humanitarian assistance for the victims of the 2011 floods in South East Asia include €10 million of funding in October 2011 which went to five countries in the region following floods caused by typhoons and tropical depressions. Another €3 million of funding came in December for the victims of Cyclone Washi in the Philippines and the €11 million of follow-up funding today will go towards recovery in four of the region's countries. This latest funding will go towards disaster risk reduction measures and activities aiming to increase the resilience of local communities to shocks caused by similar floods and typhoons in the future. Building resilience is considered as a fundamental first step in preventing similar hardship for these people due to floods, tropical depressions and typhoons that are very common in this region.