mmg.com.au

Recent floods across Asia have captured much attention across the world – but one of the worst-affected areas is where Seymour’s Cheryl Elliott is, and it has raised barely a murmur.

Ms Elliott, whose story featured in the Telegraph in July, has been battling the floods in Siem Reap along with her colleagues from volunteer organisation New Hope Cambodia.

She recently told of some of the difficulties faced by one of the poorest places in Asia.

‘‘It is the wet season here at present and for the past six weeks we have been inundated with floods, so life has been very difficult, even more so than usual,’’ she said.

‘‘The people in my village who are fortunate enough to have a job – the most common being rubbish collecting or cement workers (a cement worker works a 12-hour day for US$2.50, carrying buckets of wet cement) – have been unable to work at all.

‘‘We have had an unbelievable number of requests for help as people have no rice; a lot of houses have been washed away or flooded, especially those on the riverfront, leaving people crammed in with neighbours or friends – but the people here always make room and help each other.’’

She said another problem was the lack of blankets and sleeping mats, as the cool season had arrived and colds and fevers were commonplace.

Health is a major concern with all the water lying around.

‘‘Mosquitoes are breeding rapidly, and the dengue fever and malaria season will extend longer than usual; mosquito nets are also in short supply, but these do not always help as a lot of houses are on stilts and the water lays in pools beneath them with the mosquitoes coming in through the bamboo slats on the floors.

‘‘The water is the run-off from the open grasslands that in dry weather is used as the toilet; very few of these houses have an actual toilet.

‘‘The impact from the floods will be felt for a long time as a lot of the rice crop has been destroyed plus houses, roads – and other farming businesses are suffering.

‘‘We have already noticed a sharp increase in the price of rice, which is a terrible blow when the poor have struggled to buy enough rice to feed their families prior to this.’’

■For more details visit www.newhopecambodia.com or email info@newhopecambodia.com