Typhoon Ketsana – October 2009

1 October 2009 - Typhoon Ketsana causes floods in local communities near to JWOC - Appeal for Emergency Relief

Typhoon Ketsana, which has swept through parts of Southeast Asia with devastating effect, has left the communities in the area surrounding JWOC living in extremely dangerous conditions. Water levels have risen quickly leaving homes flooded, property destroyed and the possibility of serious health issues just around the corner.

JWOC staff visited the village to assess the scale of the problem and are acting quickly. The first and most desperate need is for clean water. Without access to safe drinking water the situation could deteriorate quickly. JWOC is sending in supplies of fresh water and working to address other urgent needs as the water begins to recede. This will include providing mosquito nets to protect from the mounting risk of malaria and dengue fever through increased mosquito populations and distributing hygiene materials and medicine to ensure people are able to protect against the contaminated water and treat its ill effects.

We need your help to help this community – your generous support, no matter how small, can go a long way towards helping JWOC help our community during this time of emergency.

2-3 October 2009 - JWOC begins Emergency Relief in Taksen Tboung and Veal Villages

JWOC is now supplying emergency support for all villagers in Taksen Tboung Village and Veal Village. In the last two days 20,400 Litres of fresh drinking water has been distributed. JWOC has also now provided vital mosquito nets and hygiene materials to 500 households to prevent the villagers from becoming sick, while they wait for the flood water to recede. During the last two days JWOC Staff and Scholarship students have visited individual households in order to handout the above provisions and also educate the villagers about the dangers of the dirty flood water. Although the rain has stopped for the time being, water levels have risen again making the situation worse. The longer the flood continues, the more difficult things become for those living in it. Over and above the visible impact of the flood villagers are also struggling to provide for their families as their usual sources of income are being prevented.

Finding adequate supplies of fresh water for up to 3,000 people is proving difficult as there are few companies prepared for large emergency orders and roads in and around Siem Reap are making transportation times slow. The JWOC team, however, are working hard to overcome these problems and ensure those in the local community who are in need are receiving support.

4 October 2009 - Relief work continues and expands into another village.

This morning, JWOC was able to expand its relief effort thanks to the help of our scholarship students, to reach another 100 houses with mosquito nets and hygiene materials. In addition to our continuing support of Taksen Tboung and Veal village by sending in large containers of fresh water, JWOC was able to go to the village of Sala Kansang to distribute vital supplies. The water in this village is hot, stagnant and poses a significant health threat in the coming days. Nevertheless, there are now a few signs that the water is beginning to recede. The relief effort will continue into at least the next few days as access to clean water remains scarce.

JWOC Beneficiary Profile

My name is Hien Vanna. I am 39 years old and I live in Veal Village with my wife, my parents and my three children. We have been flooded now for 11 days, since the big storm. Usually I work as a laborer in Siem Reap but everywhere is now flooded and there is no work. I have to take credit from the local shop to feed my family and clean water is so difficult to get. The well that we use has been broken for a while now and we don’t have the money to fix it. We try to boil our water but we also now have the water JWOC is providing to my village.

Hien Vanna stands outside his flooded home in Veal village with his family.

The flooding has affected almost everything. My children cannot go to school because the schools are closed and it is difficult to sleep at night because of the cold and the mosquitoes. We had one mosquito net for everybody but it was old and ripped. Now we have a new net thanks to JWOC. I hope that the flooding will go down soon so I can go back to work and provide for my family.

5-6 October 2009

JWOC has continued to supply safe drinking water to the three local communities we are working with nearby. As the flood gradually recedes, JWOC will begin the process of going into the villages to provide medication to alleviate some of the symptoms of prolonged skin exposure to the polluted water.

9 October 2009 - JWOC begins to distribute medical supplies.

As the dirty flood waters have continued to recede, villagers are now faced with some of the unpleasant after effects of prolonged exposure to polluted water. This morning JWOC visited over 600 households distributing medication to protect the adults and children suffering from the itchiness and rashes caused by being in the water. We hope that through our distribution of mosquito nets and hygiene materials during the flood, and medication as the flood water goes down, that the people in our local community will be able to minimise as many as possible of the negative health issues raised by the flood