Stung Treng district governor Tun Neth expressed regret that residents had moved their homes out of fear of a riverbank collapse before asking authorities if they needed to.
Neth’s made his comments via a Facebook post by the Stung Treng district administration in Kampong Cham province on Monday.
He confirmed that 10 homes and an almshouse in Prek Speu village, Preah Andong commune, on the bank of the river, were moved or prepared to be moved after four hours of heavy rain led locals to fear the worst.
The rain caused a crack that is 210m-long, 20m from the riverbank and 5m from the road. Five houses have so far been moved and five others have been prepared for shifting.
Neth told The Post on Tuesday that he, along with the provincial governor and a water resources official had visited the site and found that the riverbank is not in danger of collapse.
He said the cracks near the riverbank were caused by strong water flow, which led to cracks after the rain.
“There was no riverbank collapse, our citizens were scared and moved the houses without asking the local authorities and when I arrived at the site, I was very sorry that the people had decided to move the houses,” he said.
He said he had instructed five residents who had just moved out to rebuild their houses as before.
He said the authorities had already installed sandbags to prevent the riverbank from collapsing after heavy floods last year. He said locations that have sandbags to protect against collapse did not move from the original site.
