Vietnam, Cambodia brace for Mekong floods, crops safe

[Coventina]

Source: Reuters

HANOI, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Rising Mekong floods upstream may cause landslides and deep inundation in Cambodia and southern Vietnam but the seasonal floodwater would also bring farmers good crops of rice and fish, officials said on Tuesday.

The Vietnamese government said rescue forces must be ready to move people from dangerous areas in southern Vietnam, where the Mekong river reaches the South China Sea after travelling more than 4,000 km (2,500 miles) from Tibet through Laos and Cambodia.

Four people have been killed in flooding and landslides in Laos, where the Mekong river has hit its highest level in at least 100 years after several months of unusually heavy rain.

(snip)

Cambodia has alerted villagers of rising waters and the authorities have prepared 4,000 boats and life-jackets for the vulnerable areas in the eastern provinces of Kampong Cham and Kratie, the national disaster management committee said.

The Mekong River Commission said the river from northern Thailand to central Cambodia was higher than it was in 2000, when the worst floods in four decades struck southern Vietnam.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSHAN232863._CH_.2400

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Pretty sad that poor countries like Cambodia and Vietnam have more disaster preparedness than we had for Katrina.

I heard a news story on NPR yesterday that said that Louisana may swing Republican because most of the Democratic-voting black folk had been cleared out by Katrina. (I know, off topic, but it popped into my head as I posted this story).