The Sambok Chap Fire
On November 26, 2001 a violent fire gutted the Sambok Chap settlement in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Previous to the fire, that destroyed over 2000 homes, the municipality had issued warnings that the inhabitants would eventually be relocated, due to plans for a drastic city renovation. The cause of the fire remains uncertain, but it served the interests of the municipality so well that suspicions still abound.
After the fire the inhabitants were relocated outside of Phnom Penh, but approximately 60% of them soon returned to their old location, joined by more families over the years. In 2006, the municipality sold the land to the Su Srun development company, which in its turn bought land in the Dangkao district, 27 kms away, to relocate the families once again. Each house-owner was entitled to a plot of land of 5x12m. But the more than 400 families who were renting suddenly became homeless. They were rallied together at the entrance of the fenced land they had been evicted from. After weeks of sheltering from the rain and living in unworthy conditions without drinking water or electricity, the tenants were still waiting for the authorities to decide whether or not they would get a plot of land as well. On June 7th, all the people remaining on Su Srun’s land were forcefully removed and relocated to Andong, a locality with no connecting roads, 40 km outside of the city. Today the Sambok Chap area is in the middle of a development frenzy with huge investments by Chinese capital.
Between 2000 and 2014, around 770.000 people were expropriated, 6% of the total population of Cambodia.
