At least 183 dead in Cambodia after weeks of flooding

Cambodia's worst floods in a decade have left at least 183 people dead since August and damaged nearly 100,000 hectares of rice fields, the government said Friday, according to dpa. Figures provided by the National Committee on Disaster Management show flooding has affected 231,000 people across nearly all of the country. Around 23,000 people have been evacuated to higher ground, and many roads and buildings have suffered damage. Ma Norith, head of the committee's information department, said water levels on the Mekong River, which runs through Cambodia, remain high. The floods are Cambodia's worst since 2000, when more than 370 people died. The government's strategy to help those affected has come in for criticism, with thousands of people still waiting for assistance. On Friday the Cambodia Daily newspaper interviewed a group of 15 people, including children, who had been stranded on high land for three weeks in the badly affected south-eastern province of Prey Veng.