Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday provided aid to more than 10,000 families affected by flooding in Banteay Meanchey province’s Mongkol Borei district and offered his condolences to the 18 victims who drowned in the province over the past week.

He said flooding had occured in Phnom Penh and 18 provinces, claiming 34 lives.

Banteay Meanchey has the most deaths and 410,000 people have been evacuated.

“I offer condolences to brothers and sisters whose family members died. This is the worst recorded disaster since 1979,” he said.

The prime minister said the devastating floods caused by climate change were not limited to Cambodia. He said the situation in Vietnam is even worse as more than 100 people, including soldiers, have reportedly drowned in the country.

He encouraged the army, police and citizens to do their best to help evacuate flood victims in times of emergency.

“What we have to do first is evacuate residents to higher ground and provide food, medicines and other emergency aid to victims,” he said.

Hun Sen said $7 million has already been donated for flood-related efforts.

For Banteay Meanchey, the government, through the National Committee for Disaster Management, provided $200,000 to victims.

Hun Sen called on the people to continue to follow hygienic rules consistently to protect themselves from other diseases, including cholera, rashes, malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, and Covid-19.

Banteay Meanchey provincial governor Um Reatrey told The Post on Wednesday that as of Wednesday, water levels of the Mongkol Borei and Sisophon Rivers and various streams, especially the Cambodia-Thailand stream, continue to rise.

Flooding in the province affected 29,225 houses, 64,372ha of rice crops, 60,259ha of cassava, 989ha of cash crops, 186 schools, nine health centres, 60 pagodas, five commune halls, 535km of roads, 54 pump wells and inundated 34km of dams.