General Mackevili wrote:

Virajoe wrote:The affected area is mostly cleaned up, and they have already started preparations for rebuilding it. Heaps of (new) metal poles laying around and quite the activity over there.

Yesterday there was some kind of meeting at the market with the affected sellers, and they burst into applause several times. I would love to know what was being said there, if anyone knows. Anyway, with the current reconstruction and the applause it seems like it was good news.

Hoping to see the market back to normal in a few weeks

Thank you for this update.

Do you have any pictures you can post here for us?

Yes, sure. I have a few pics with about the same framing from during and after the fire. Taken from a distance with mobile camera, so the quality isn't the best.

Monday (during):








Monday (after):

Sellers scavenging through the debris



Tuesday (one day after the fire):

Most of the debris is removed. (the first scrap yard truck arrived even before the fire was fully put out)



Wednesday (two days after the fire):

There has been another big market fire in Prey Veng at a market just after Neak Luang. (26th Nov just after midnight/early this last morning)
266 stalls destroyed along with 24 shop houses.
Market vendors will be mainly ethnic Vietnamese, so let's see if Rainsy facebooks it and how much press it gets.
http://media.interior.gov.kh/nationalne ... recid=1141


Shitty month for fire safety in Cambodia.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weeke ... -line-fire

A little story about the capabilities of the fire service.
Strangely omits their role in the suppression of protestors.

I took a walk through the new old market today and was pleasantly surprised. For those of us that think Cambodians are unorganized, think again. It has taken less than 2 months since the fire, and most of the stall holders are very happy with the end results. In our home countries it would take a year just to get the planning approvals to start rebuilding.
I can almost hear the stall holders in the Kandel market praying for a fire.

Paging all the conspiracy theorists.....................

Duncan wrote: For those of us that think Cambodians are unorganized, think again. It has taken less than 2 months since the fire, and most of the stall holders are very happy with the end results. In our home countries it would take a year just to get the planning approvals to start rebuilding.

Yeah, but that's exactly the reason why it'll burn down again.

Username Taken wrote:

Secret Squirrel wrote:Paging all the conspiracy theorists.....................

There was no fire. It was just smoke and mirrors.

Actually it was a hologram projected by the elite Cambodian Information Ministry to fool us.

Let me see, Cambodian fire departments. No equipment, no fire fighter suits (turnout gear), no proper water nozzles, little or no training, no proper fire plans, no proper hose lays, no fire hydrants, no SCBA (air-packs), no life saving gear, no Emergence Medical Technicians/fire-fighters, no national training site, no hook and ladder trucks/cherry-picker boom trucks even though tall building are being built, no mutual response co-ordination with other fire departments, little or no pay which makes for no esprit de corps, no salvage equipment, and the usual corruption in obtaining the noted things.

I have been an EMT/firefighter, 30+ years on shipboard fire brigades, hold both basic and advanced firefighting certificates (advanced done were US Navy trains), I volunteered my time with the Australian NGO that trains firefighters. I was told that yes, I was qualified to teach fire fighting, but no wasn't needed. Obviously I was getting into someone's rice bowl. Usual useless scam NGO's?

Fire Departments in Cambodia? Useless, and an accident looking for a place to happen. Lucky the construction is mostly concrete and not stick/wood built, but you have all the open gas cooking fires and tanks of volatile gas's, tanker trucks of gasoline in cities, and much, much more.

In Sihanoukville, I'm told the fire department wants $1000. before they will squirt water. I was at the fire down by the beach a couple years ago that took out some business's. With one truck, water, three trained firefighters and proper hose lays/nozzles, the fire would have been contained in about 20 minutes. As it was whole business burnt down and any other place on earth there would be a big investigation, but TIC (This Is Cambodia) You have to love it warts and all, but I would never build a building or start a business here.