Building free crematoriums and morgues for poor villagers has been important task that the FRA has taken on in Cambodia. The new facilities were built by the agency out of not only compassion-ate care for underprivileged Cambodians, but also under efforts to help prevent farmland and riv-ers from being contaminated due to unregulated burning of dead human remains directly on the ground; improve the villagers' drinking water sources; and reduce the spread of epidemic diseases.
Cremating human remains directly on the ground or rice paddies near temples remains a common practice in rural areas of Cambodia . Some temple operators cremated the deceased on higher land in the open. Some temples are located near elementary schools -- leaving curious school kids watching as onlookers when the cremation was carried out.
During dry months, the villagers tend to burn the deceased directly on an open ground randomly selected; while in wet season, human remains were burned on higher land. Ashes of the burnt dead bodies, however, were in turn washed, along with rainfall, into channels or sources of the villagers' drinking water.
Since the poor villagers could not afford to have bodies of their loved ones sent to public morgues for funeral services, they usually conducted a convenient cremation of their deceased family members near their homes after a simple worship ritual.
Some were so poor that they had to borrow firewood from their neighbors for the primitive cre-mation.
This primitive way of disposal had prompted the FRA to build crematoriums and morgues for the villagers' use free of charge.

Breakdown of FRA Crematoriums and Morgues in Various Cities around Cambodia(Please click the temple name)：