A spokesman for Oxfam, an international relief organization, announced a plan to provide $50 million in emergency aid to Cambodia at a press conference at the Kennedy School yesterday.
James C. Howard, Oxfam's technical officer disaster specialist, said "Unless we act now, we see the possible extinction of Cambodia before Christmas. The population will die and simply melt into the ground. It's as simple as that."
Tragedy
Howard said over four million Cambodians have been killed since 1975, and 3.5 million are in danger of starvation.
Howard flew to Cambodia with the first relief flight on August 24 with 40 tons of supplies.
The deposed Pol Pot regime destroyed most of the machinery, factories and agricultural machinery in Cambodia, Howard said.
"There are 50 doctors in the whole of Cambodia, there are 350 in Paris alone. The government has eight cars and there are four locomotives in the whole country. Pol Pot just destroyed the human society's ability to survive. The end result of all the wars is a society going towards extinction," Howard said.
Howard said the key to Cambodia's survival is money. "There is a hope that the American public will respond to a real plea from the heart of these people," Howard said, adding $50 million is the difference between life and death for Cambodians.
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