9-11 November 2011

Water Festival

On the last day of the Water Festival last year (2010), a stampede occurred when a crowd panicked as they crossed a small bridge from Koh Pich Island back to the riverfront. 353 people died. Cambodia is not good at planning and critical thinking--even common sense (as in allowing both left-hand and right-hand drives cars on the road) so this was probably one of many major accidents waiting to happen. The organizers said the police were responsible for crowd control and the police blamed the organizers, and in the end, the government got off easy. This year, though, they did learn something and there was a heavy security presence along the riverfront and on the island. I saw three or four police posts and three fire engines situated around the area.

	This is the bridge where the 353 people were trampled to death. It is a small bridge, about one-and-a-half lanes wide and less than the length of a football field. It is primarily a pedestrian bridge. In the year since the tragedy the government has built three new bridges to the island because people afraid of or respectful of the spirits of the dead will not use this one now.
	This is one of the police posts outside an exhibition hall on the island.
	This police post is along the road near luxury housing being constructed on the island.
	This fire truck was parked along a road near the Senate Building on the waterfront.
	This fire truck was assigned to duty on the island. The writing on the door is in Korean, indicating its country of origin and first owner.
	Another fire truck, also with Korean writing on the door, on the island.  I suspect this was a first, deploying precautionary fire trucks. It is very rare to see a fire truck on the street, even rarer to see one in action.