August 19, 2008 — A stronger rainy season than expected has been causing water levels in Laos to rise quite dramatically, with the Mekong River breaching its banks and overflowing into cities throughout Laos.
 The Lao Government, the Mekong River Commission and development partners, including the World Bank, have been working closely to assess the situation, take the necessary precautions to reduce the impacts of the flood as well as quickly respond to those areas were flooding has been severe.
According to the MRC flooding begins in the Vientiane area when the river reaches 12.5 meters. Over the last three days the river has surpassed this level, reaching 13.63 meters on August 14. In Luang Prabang, the river reached over 20 meters earlier in the week; the flooding level there is when the river is higher than 18 meters.
One of the measures taken to reduce the extent of the flooding has been to create walls made of sandbags that can contain the flood and avoid it spreading to the rest of the city. Communities, the Lao Government, the Lao military and development partners have been working to put together sandbags and create a sandbag wall around Vientiane. So far this has helped keep the water away from the center of the city. However, the areas where the water has been contained have experienced severe flooding.
 The most severely hit areas in Laos include Vientiane Municipality and Province, Luang Prabang, Bolikhomxay, Khammouane, Savannakhet and Champasak provinces. The floods have inundated many rice crops as well as damaged roads and households. A needs assessment of losses and the recovery and reconstruction efforts that will be needed will be carried out as soon as the situation is stable.
Throughout this period the World Bank has been providing support to the Lao Government. World Bank staff have provided labor and small donations to the sandbagging efforts, and the World Bank has expedited the disbursement of the Poverty Reduction Support Operation project to quickly provide the Government with the needed financing to respond to this emergency. Moreover through the World Bank-financed Road Maintenance Program Phase 2, the Australian government has provided financing to support current government expenditures in sandbagging and other precautions being taken. The World Bank will also be supporting the Government’s efforts in carrying out a needs, damage and loss assessment through the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.
For questions email laoinfo@worldbank.org
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