Hundreds of people are missing and thousands more have left their home after a dam collapsed in southern Laos, causing flash flooding across six villages, according to the state news agency. The Lao News Agency said the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy dam collapsed at 8 p.m. on Monday night, which sent out 5 billion cubic meters of water. Houses were washed away in the water, which caused several deaths and left more than 6,000 people homeless.
Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith put off a planned monthly government meeting to monitor the rescue and relief efforts, the agency said. Authorities have made a public appeal for emergency aid for the victims of the flooding, including clothing, food, water and medicine.
Pauline Arce, officer for the International Federation of the Red Cross Asia-Pacific, said the Laos National Disaster Prevention and Control Committee had met to discuss the disaster. She said the IFRC was preparing to issue emergency relief funds for Laos within the next 24 hours, but was already sending relief kits to help 1,000 people affected by the floods and is helping with search and rescue operations.
The disaster is so far known to have affected at least six villages in the Sanamxay District of Attapeu Province. There is no official information yet about how badly the dam has been damaged, what caused it to break or when the flooding is expected to recede. Although people desired to decrease the flood as soon as possible, it still takes some time to do that.
US non-governmental organization International Rivers said the break was caused by the heavy rain in Laos. Construction on the dam began in February 2013 and the operations were expected to begin in 2018. It was due to cost an estimated $1.02 billion. The South Korean construction company building the dam, SK Construction Co., has sent a rescue crew including helicopters and boats to Laos, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Tuesday.
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