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| A village defence volunteer scans the almost deserted neighbourhood of Ban Nong Khanna in Surin’s Phanom Dong Rak district after residents fled the border conflict. TAWATCHAI KEMGUMNERD |
The villages lie empty, the only sounds are gunfire
29/04/2011
King-oua Laohong & Nopparat Kingkaew
Bangkok Post
Silence enshrouds border villages in Surin, now left with empty houses and a few dogs and chickens to brace for the only punctuation of time _ gunshots.
If anybody travels along the roads leading to the remote villages at the Thai-Cambodian border near Prasat, Phanom Dong Rak and Kap Choeng districts, they have to ask themselves, amid the air of desolation: ''Where have all the people gone?''
The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department yesterday announced that 44 evacuation centres have been set up so far - 35 in Surin and nine in Buri Ram.
In Surin, about 40,400 people have already been relocated while in neighbouring Buri Ram, 7,800 people have had to leave their home towns.
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