The Mekong River Commission (MRC) have used mobile phones as a new tool to monitor Mekong flooding, providing 14 phones to 14 villages flanking the Mekong river in order to send flood forecast and reports to the government via SMS text messages.

The villages that received the phones are in Kandal province’s Loeuk Deck district and Prey Veng province’s Peamro district.

Those villagers would be instructed how to read flood monitors and report the findings via SMS by the MRC’s staff and a regional body of countries along the Mekong river. All text messages will be converted into fingers to be used to make flood forecast.

Using cell phones to receive feedback from villagers is part of a larger of MRC’s program to improve flood forecasting throughout the Mekong region. Currently, this program was launched with trials in Laos, Vietnam and Thailand.

The mobile phone system will likely be expanded to cover other villages, if successful.

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