After a hydropower dam forced resettlement, most Sesan residents made new lives in a grid of identical stilted houses in New Srekor, while some resisters founded Old Srekor. An ex-opposition commune chief is now looking to make a comeback in a split community.
Families in Stung Treng’s Sesan district are accusing an agriculture company of bulldozing the land they say they moved to after the Lower Sesan 2 Hydropower Dam flooded their land.
Bunong villagers flushed out by Sesan dam floodwaters have been taking boats to visit ancestral grounds, wading through clusters of dying trees that were not adapted to survive permanent floods. They are now bracing for a new fight as a rubber company eyes their refuge on higher ground.
Just one of the eight turbines at the 400-MW Lower Sesan 2 dam are presently operating due to low water levels, an official said, with the past week’s brief smattering of rain doing little to alleviate nationwide power outages.
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