Preah Vihear – A week living in the camp, residents fleeing the second Cambodia-Thailand clash have expressed concern that the conflict could continue for a long time, affecting their livelihoods, and their lives have to be lived in displacement camps during the cold months with falling temperatures from midnight until sunrise.
Phay Chanly, a resident of Damnak Kandor village, Romdoh Sre commune, Choam Ksan district in Preah Vihear province – about 40 kilometers from the Thai border, hopes that the armed conflict between Cambodia and Thailand will end soon. Having returned with her young child to the camp again this season, she is afraid that both of them would suffer from constant flu.
She added that authorities had just given her family of seven two warm clothes and a simple blanket. She requested cold medicine, thick blankets, and warm clothes.
The team of doctors at the shelter declined to comment on the people’s health conditions.
After spending one week at the camp, she said that living in the camp at night is cold and the bathroom is about 100 meters away from her place and sometimes she has to wait about 10 minutes. “I want the war to end soon, so that everyone can be happy.”
Phal Chhaidin, 26, also said that living in the camp during the cold season would affect the health of him and his two children, aged three months and three years, respectively, due to the cold at night.
He complained that from 6 pm to 8 pm everyday, there is always a shortage of water. He also does not like the food provided in the camp, consisting of canned fish and dried fish, among others.
In addition, Chhaidin, who is from Veal Thom Village in Choam Ksan commune, is worried about his two hectares of rice fields and cassava. He does not know whether it has been damaged by the Thai shelling.
“I’m worried. I don’t know when the war will end, I want to go home, I miss my home. I have a dog, a cat, and a motorbike.”
Tes Phi, 74, whose house is 20 kilometers from the Thai border, said she heard the sound of loud Thai shelling near her house every night. She finally fled with her blind husband and eight children. But she is worried about one of her children, a front-line soldier, in Mom Bei.
“I want peace soon so that I can return to farming,” she said.
Preah Vihear deputy governor Kim Chanpanha said over 10,000 families left their homes in the province, which is equivalent to 30,000 people. Wat Bakam camp has the largest number of evacuees, about 2,000 families. He said due to the cold weather at night, authorities have provided 10 packages of warm clothes per shelter to distribute to the people.
Information Minister Neth Pheakta said as of 12:30 pm on December 17, the eleventh day of the border conflict, 134,668 families or 447,509 people, including 219,052 women and 131,270 children, across eight provinces have fled their homes.
