A TOTAL of 23 houses were completely destroyed and a further 200 damaged by a storm that injured three people when it blew through Preah Vihear province earlier this week, officials said Thursday.

Svay Phoeun, a village representative, said Tuesday’s storm, which wrought the most damage in Kulen district’s Srayong commune, was the worst the area had seen in several decades, and that his parents’ house had been among those destroyed in Srayong village.

“It is not only my parents, but 100 other people in the village now have no houses, and it will take a long time to rebuild them,” he said.

Keo Vy, chief of cabinet at the National Committee for Disaster Management, said storms occurring towards the beginning of the wet season destroy poorly constructed houses in rural areas every year.

“Our villagers are poor, and their wooden houses are not strong enough; therefore it is easy for them to be blown down when there are heavy storms and rain,” he said.

According to NCDM statistics, four villagers have been killed and 11 injured in storms in Preah Vihear during the first three months of this year. More than 200 homes have been destroyed, and nearly 900 have been damaged.

Storms in the same period last year killed 11 people and injured 38, while 270 houses were destroyed and 500 damaged, Keo Vy said.