Phnom Penh - Four million people have been affected by the worst floods in a generation sweeping down the Mekong River basin, the heart of mainland southeast Asia's rice bowl, officials and international aid workers said yesterday.
Many flooded areas in southern Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam could not be reached to deliver emergency relief, according to the International Red Cross, which has begun issuing lifebelts as a last resort to residents in the Mekong delta. "We are talking about the highest floods in a generation right down the Mekong," Peter Walker, southeast Asia chief for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, said on a flood-inspection stop-over in Cambodia.