PHNOM PENH - Floodwater released by a recently opened Chinese hydroelectric dam in Cambodia has forced hundreds of families from five villages to abandon their homes in recent weeks, the campaign group International Rivers said on Friday.
The villagers in the northern province of Stung Treng have moved to designated project resettlement sites, the group said in a statement that estimated at least 5,000 people would be displaced.
In Srekor village only 10 families relocated to a resettlement villages, while 63 families stayed behind, moving to forested higher ground from where they have witnessed the floodwaters steadily rise since December to reach the roofs of their homes.
"The thriving community of Srekor has become a silent waterworld," International Rivers said, noting that the village's farms, temple, ancestral graves and fishing grounds had been destroyed.