Flooding is by far the most common and frequent natural hazard facing Cambodia, a threat to lives and livelihoods across the country. Climate change will likely further increase the frequency of severe flood events. In 2011, a flood affected more than 1,700,000 people, killed 250, and left 50,000 families homeless.

Against this backdrop, Cambodia has taken strides to protect lives and livelihoods against the intensifying flood risk. A key pillar of those efforts has been construction of multi-purpose flood shelters to protect the most vulnerable populations. Drawing on GFDRR’s expertise at the intersection of climate risk management, disaster risk management (DRM), and health, the facility has helped Cambodia ensure that the shelters not only provide the maximum protection, but also fill gaps in health care service delivery during non-emergency times.

Despite the high flood risk, Cambodia has only nine multi-purpose flood shelters, serving approximately 12,000 people. According to conservative estimates based on GFDRR analysis, more than 3 million people are exposed to significant flood risks, with a 10 percent probability per decade of them experiencing floods exceeding 1.5 meters in depth. Projections from this analysis indicate that the number of people exposed could rise to nearly 8 million by 2050. Although there are plans to expand the flood shelter network to an additional 10 communes, this would be inadequate to protect the exposed population. Limited shelter capacity regularly forces many Cambodians to seek refuge in temporary shelters, which lack basic safety, water and sanitation; medical aid; and appropriate spaces for vulnerable groups such as women, children, and elderly adults.

In close collaboration with the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), GFDRR has helped a technical team with a geo-spatial analysis of flood risks and socioeconomic vulnerabilities to help the NCDM identify and verify not only the high-risk areas where the shelters are needed most, but also the socioeconomically vulnerable populations that might benefit most from access. Because flood risk and vulnerability in Cambodia vary geographically, this support is key to the Cambodian government’s efforts to improve decision-making regarding placement of shelters and efficient use of investment resources for these facilities. In addition to the analysis, GFDRR supported workshops with key stakeholders from the NCDM to translate the findings to the local context. The NCDM is mandated to lead and coordinate all DRM activities in Cambodia.

This collaboration has narrowed potential shelter project locations from 1,633 communes to 363 communes with high shelter needs, 169 of which have at least half of their population exposed to very high flood risk; 143 communes, although extremely vulnerable, are less exposed to flood risk. A key insight here is that, at least initially, it may be more cost-effective to prioritize investments in shelter projects in communes with lower exposure to flood risk close to ones with high exposure. In these communes, it is likely that investment requirements to connect multi-purpose shelters to infrastructure networks, such as power, water, and transportation, will be considerably lower. Connecting shelters to such networks, which provide essential services, is crucial for providing a safe, decent standard of living for people taking refuge.

GFDRR has also provided technical assistance that will enable the NCDM to use the multi-purpose flood shelters as temporary health care facilities, filling gaps in health care service delivery during non-emergency times. The technical assistance has encompassed such key areas as maintenance costs, community trust to increase shelter uptake, and location selection criteria for these potential multi-use facilities. The facility is continuing its dialogue with the NCDM about how to use the shelters to strengthen health care service delivery in underserved areas. Doing so would have the potential to increase overall population resilience to health- and disaster-related emergencies. Equipping shelters to function as health care centers, with adequate water and plumbing infrastructure, can also help reduce the risk of waterborne disease outbreaks.

Overall, GFDRR’s support for these efforts to ensure that the flood shelters provide maximum protection and potentially fill gaps in health care service delivery have highlighted the important co-benefits between disaster and emergency preparedness and health care system resilience. It is hoped that, over the medium to long term, Cambodia will draw on the facility’s expertise to encourage effective cross-sectoral investments, benefiting disaster preparedness and health care service delivery while ensuring that vulnerable populations are protected.