Cambodia has been experiencing flash floods since August with the occurrance of heavy rains and the flooding of the Mekong River, at least 150 people have been killed, worst since 2000 when 374 people were killed. Several dykes have broken along the Mekong River allowing for major flooding in the area on top of the already great amount of rain fall.
Engineering approach: A link looking at a meteorlogical map showing the amount of current precipitation based of of 24 hour precipitation totals in areas around the world could give an engineering approach for flooding using scientific weather forcasting. Looking at the current meteorlogical map of Cambodia, it is seen that there is still some precipitation in the area months after the significant amount of flooding and rainfall that has been occurring since August. The rainfall is measured using rain gauges placed to uniform height, measuring with up to an accuracy of 0.1mm or 0.01in.
http://www.intellicast.com/Global/Precipitation/Current.aspx
Another good link is the GDACS- the Global Flood Detection System which gives current information on flooding worldwide showing the areas affected by flooding. By selecting Cambodia as an area I can see the areas affected by flooding. There are also links on the side with information about the current flooding that is occurring.
http://www.gdacs.org/flooddetection/searchareas.aspx
Behavioural Approach: In a disaster such as a flood it is important to evacuate people quickly and make sure people at least have a short term warning and know about what is going to happen. Allowing for a system to get message across about a natural disaster that will be occurring will help with a better long term plan of avoiding areas prone to floods and gives a warning for it. HEWS or Humantitarian Early Warning Service gives a flooding monitoring page of floods going on more recently as well as in the past, listed by the date the flood has occurred. By clicking on a specific flood, it shows the start date, cause of storm and the estimated population within 60 km. This would be a good website to look at and see where floods are occurring to be able to stay away from certain sites, but since Cambodia is not a developed country it most likely does not have access to websites such as these to monitor floods in thier area.
http://hewsweb.org/floods/#
The Global Disaster Alert and Coordinate System gives a good analysis of the impact of the Cambodian flooding, as well as helpful maps that could help to understand the contributions of why the impact was so great. It has a population density map, which shows that the great amount of the populations are along the rivers, one in particular being the Mekong River which flooded greatly.
http://www.gdacs.org/reports.asp?eventType=FL&ID=2011_3853&country=Cambodia&location=0&system=asgard&alertlevel=Orange&glide_no=0
Developmental Approach: Cambodia is a fairly poor country that has suffered greatly in disasters, such as flooding because they don't have enough sophisticated equipment and techniques to help prepare the people that are living here from flooding disasters. This makes them more vulnerable to disaster and the impacts are great. Cambodia has been suffering the worst from the Mekong flash floods in the last decade this most recent one has killed 150 people, destroyed 130,220 homes, affected 270,000 hectares of rice paddies, which is important economically. By not having the most accurate equipment, structures and protection from a flooding disasters, the impacts are heightened.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-10/03/c_131172904.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkdxUwUxJNQ
This video is of the flooding occurring in Siem Reap, Cambodia in September 2011 a month after heavy rainfall has been occurring since August. From the video footage it shows that the flooding is still pretty significant and also with the conditions of the town you can see it is not as developed of a country as say the United States.
Complexity Approach: Looking at all the different interactions that could have caused the impact of the flooding in a poor country, such as Cambodia, there isn't much surprise that the flooding impacted them greatly. With the country not having a great amount of sophisticated equipment and techniques, it would be hard for local people to be able to monitor flooding in thier areas and be able to be more prepared for them. Also since the economy is pretty poor here, they won't have the most up to date structure that would help with an oncomng flood and protect important buildings. With the lack of equipment and technologies, it would be hard make and organize warnings and evacuations for the area. The poorest of people located most likley on the areas most prone to flooding, would not have a warning to know to leave the area because a disaster is going to occur. The economy has played a major role in the impact of Cambodia and the floodign that has been going on since August. With the poor economy it is hard to put money towars long term planning for situations such as these and they still remain very vulnerable to disasters The relief for the flood victims in these poor areas need to go into effect so that it is known globally and a plan of action can occur. Currently Plan International is distributing relief kits to over a 1,000 familes affected. Plan Cambodia is working with the government to help with disaster management in the future. Overall there are many interactions that have helped to contribute to the outcome of the flooding and these were just some of the one's considered.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/plan-provides-relief-to-flood-hit-families-in-cambodia
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