Four ministers took immediate action to visit and assist flood-affected citizens after Prime Minister Hun Sen instructed them to begin assessing flood-damaged areas on Monday. Mr Hun Sen ordered Public Works Minister Sun Chanthol, Minister of Water Resources Lim Kean Hour, Minister of Rural Development Ouk Rabun and Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon to instruct ministry officials to visit flooded areas to assess the damage immediately. “Don’t wait for reports from provincial departments. Ministerial secretaries of state and undersecretaries can go there to determine the damage and organise immediate repairs if they are necessary,” he said. Sakhon went to Siem Reap province yesterday to distribute 30 tonnes of rice seeds and 1,200 packs of vegetables including corn, kale, eggplant and beans to 200 affected families and farmers in Siem Reap city. Each family received 100 kilogrammes of rice seeds and crops “Flooding is a natural phenomenon which we cannot avoid, leaving infrastructure, houses and crops damaged. More importantly, it’s taking our citizen’s lives,” Sakhon said. Rabun yesterday led a technical team including Mao Thonin, governor of Pursat province, to inspect the situation and repair a road damaged by the floods in Kandieng district’s Kanhchor commune, to facilitate traffic and the transportation of agricultural products. Sixteen kilometres of the road was flooded and 2.3 kilometres were severely damaged, according to the Ministry of Rural Development. Ministry of Public Works and Transport spokesman Vasim Sorya told Khmer Times on Monday that the ministry has already inspected road damage but the cost of repairs has not yet been estimated.