Famine reports from Indo-China

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33874, 20 June 1975, Page 13

Famine reports from Indo-China

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

BANGKOK, June 19.

Starvation is the most serious problem in Saigon, and in Cambodia widespread famine is reported.

The United States has shipped hundreds of thousands of tons of rice to Vietnam and Cambodia, but that vital commodity will be in short supply until the] harvests in November.

The Liberation Radio service in Saigon, monitored in Bangkok, said yesterday: “The distribution of rice and money to the poor by the authorities recently obviously could not solve much, but the hunger in the cities has aided the authorities in Saigon to encourage people to go back to their rural homes to take up farming again.” Some analysts estimate that in Cambodia more than 1 million Khmers may die of hunger and related diseases in the next 18 months, according to Western relief workers.

As the rains began and the war ended in Cambodia half the provinces were already out of rice, and in the

remaining areas little land was being cultivated.

At the time Phnom Penh fell, American diplomats estimated that the city had enough rice to feed the capital’s more than 2 million people for a little more than a month. Cambodia has 8 million people. After conquering the capital, the Khmer Rouge forcibly evicted the population f r om every town and city, and on the long march to the countryside to dig rice fields, many old, sick, and young people died from lack of water. Others had only a handful of rice to eat each day, according to refugees and relief officials. "Thousands will die from primitive shelter, no mosquito nets, poor water, and no medical care,” said one relief worker.

i “People will not starve to death because they will not live long enough to starve — they will succumb to all the illnesses that a person weakened from hunger would normally die from.”