792 nearby households given cash, land and building materials.

NEARLY 800 families living near Preah Vihear temple have received land, cash and materials to help rebuild their homes at a new site near the disputed temple, officials said Tuesday.

Kong Sorphon, director of Preah Vihear province's Department of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, said a total of 4,334 hectares have been set aside for 792 families living near the base of the temple.

Some 319 of the families were vendors at the market at the foot of the temple staircase whose homes were destroyed during border clashes earlier this month.

Kong Sorphon said the remaining 473 are from Ko Muoy village, which lies inside the bounds of the Preah Vihear temple grounds and would also be shifted to Sra Em village,  a new settlement around 10 kilometres from the temple.

He said each family would receive 2 million riel (US$490), construction wood and 50 sheets of metal roofing from Prime Minister Hun Sen to rebuild their houses, in addition to a 50- metre-by-100-metre plot of land at Sra Em.

"We have land for 792 families to build houses in Sa Em village, and we are working to draw up a map for road construction and places to build a market, school and pagoda," Kong Sorphon said.

Siv Sophally, a market vendor whose house and property were destroyed in the clashes earlier this month, said she was overjoyed by the assistance given by the government. "We were very happy to hear of Hun Sen's assistance," she said.