BEAUTIFUL BRIDGE, TRAGIC DAY

Dateline:
Phnom Penh, Friday, July 15, 2011
Deanna Shimko

I was in Phnom Penh with Sam P and Pat L for two days of meetings at Resource Development International-Cambodia and US Embassy to explore resources for our program development and expansion.

Do you remember the great tragedy for the Khmer people? It happened last November 2010 on the last day of the annual Cambodian Water Festival (Bon Om Touk).

This beautiful bridge is the site of the great tragedy: 456 people confirmed dead—109 who lost their lives at the scene and 347 who died in Phnom Penh’s overwhelmed public hospitals. Hundreds more were injured.

The 50-metre Diamond Gate suspension bridge is one of two bridges that connect the 100-hectare (250 acre) Koh Pich (Diamond) Island in the Bassac River to central Phomn Penh. The stampede on the bridge occurred as concerts were ending on both sides of the bridge. Survivors reported being trapped by surges of people pushing in both directions.

The Cambodian Water Festival, which occurs on the full moon usually in November, celebrates a major natural occurrence: the reversing flow between the Tonle Sap and the Mekong River.

For most of the year, the Tonle Sap empties into the Mekong River. However, when the rainy season arrives in June, the Mekong rises, reversing the flow to dump water into the lake, increasing its size ten-fold. When the rainy season ends in November, the Mekong drops once more, allowing the current to reverse again, emptying the excess waters of Tonle Sap back into the Mekong.