Chapter 1: What challenges do residents of Prek Touch face due to climate change?
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You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
Hello, short wavers. I am NPR correspondent Camilla Dominovsky, filling in as host. And today we are going on a trip with Rebecca Herscher from NPR's Climate Desk. Hey, Becky.
Hi.
So where are we headed?
We're going to Cambodia, specifically to the central Cambodian village of Prek Tush. It's right next to the Nikang River.
And when were you there?
So I was there in December. I visited with an NPR team that included producer Ryan Kelman and interpreter Tat Odom. And we wanted to visit this particular place because of something kind of surprising that's happening there, something related to its location, which is right next to this massive river.
The Mekong River, right? One of the biggest rivers in the world.
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Chapter 2: How are voicemails used as a warning system in Cambodia?
Yeah, and what did you find out? What's going on with the weather warnings in Cambodia?
Well, they've made progress. So as of like a decade ago, there really wasn't any modern system for warning people about flooding in Cambodia. But that has been changing with the help of money from nonprofit groups and from the UN itself. Residents who used to get, you know, basically no warning about floods now get flood forecasts up to five days in advance, which is a huge upgrade.
And people in riverside communities like Praktush, they get warnings now and they get them via voicemail.
Are we talking like a regular voicemail or is it something more high-tech?
No, it's literally like a normal voicemail. But the message is a flood warning, not like a fun message from your friend.
Here's an excerpt of one. This says there will be minor flooding that may affect your area in Thabong Khmum province.
And then it gives directions about how to evacuate. Anyone in the country can opt in to getting these warnings. You can also sign up to get text warnings on the popular messaging app Telegram.
Okay. I have to say, I feel like most of the voicemails I have right now are spam messages. Does this actually work? Because I mostly ignore my inbox.
I had the same question. I was like, okay, voicemail. Like, great. But people really seem to take these warnings seriously. Like, before that terrible November flood hit Praktush... Klee Polly got a voicemail warning on her phone. And she says in the past, they might have sheltered in their homes when the water was rising and just hoped that the water wouldn't get too high.
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Chapter 3: What scientific factors contribute to worsening flooding in Cambodia?
He does that every time there's a warning. And that's actually how 82-year-old Khar Sama and his wife found out. They announced it via loudspeaker, Samad told me. And then a neighbor gave the elderly couple a ride to the evacuation center. When the floodwaters went down, everyone went home. Residents said there was one fatality.
It was a young child whose family lives on a boat, so they couldn't evacuate. By the time we visited town about a month after the flood, life in Praktish was back to normal.
Wow. Yeah. Does every town in Cambodia have this kind of warning system and the community-minded neighbors who make sure that everybody actually gets the warning?
No. So Prechtush is a leader on this, and that's in part because it is so prone to flooding. It was a pilot site that got UN funding over the last three years to help local leaders make evacuation plans, you know, come up with that plan to plug your phone into your speaker and drive through town.
But UN-affiliated agencies are planning to spend an additional $7.8 million to expand the work across the country.
You know, it seems like this work has been pretty successful. So are there projects like this in other countries too?
Yeah, for sure. Dozens of countries around the world have similar initiatives. Cambodia is just an example of a place where the benefits are already tangible, at least on a relatively small scale.
And definitely not to discount those benefits. It sounds like a lot of lives were saved here. But just listening to you describe the experiences of people in Praktush, I'm also thinking about what wasn't saved, what is still washed away.
Yeah, absolutely. That came up in so many of the conversations I had in Praktush and also in other flood-prone parts of Cambodia. And particularly with people who live in places that are mostly reliant on farming as opposed to fishing. You know, floods are washing away their seeds, they're destroying crops at an absolutely huge scale.
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