From what I hear, Cambodia made the world news today. So I thought I would write and say that I am ok. I was not in Phnom Penh for Water Festival. Neither myself or any other Peace Corps volunteer or staff was harmed at the festival.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/world/asia/23cambodia.html
Water Festival is a big deal here. I have heard that over 3 million people travel to Phnom Penh to celebrate. Which is a crazy amount of people. The festival includes a lot of parties, concerts, and boat races. The story that I have heard about the event (which may or may not be true, but is what I have been told) is that there was a concert on Diamond island, that a lot of people attended. At some point a few people passed out, and people started to panic and run towards the bridge. The bridge is very small and could not accommodate the crowd so police used water hoses to push the people back. However there were exposed electrical wires because of the concert. Because of the water people starting getting electrocuted. And it is rumored that some people were afraid the bridge was falling because there were so many people. The panic got worse and people began jumping into the water, however most Khmer people can not swim.
It was a horrible accident, and we are all very sad to hear that it happened. It seems to be affecting people all over Cambodia. My host brother was unable to contact his cousin who attended water festival, so he traveled to Phnom Penh today to find him. Which he did, and he is fine. This seems to be a common problem right now. Many people are concerned about extended family, and everyone is contacting everyone else to check on them.
Hun Sen has declared today and tomorrow national days of mourning and has decided to give the families of the victims money to help them. Send good thoughts this way.
No comments:
Post a Comment