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| Tuesday, 3 August 2004 |
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Deaths and costs mount in South Asia floods as disease breaks out Dhaka, Monday (AFP) The death toll from monsoon floods swamping parts of South Asia mounted as rescuers carried medicines to thousands who have fallen sick from waterborne disease. At least 1,293 people have died in Bangladesh, India and Nepal in flooding that has submerged parts of the region since July 10, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Media reports say the final toll may be far greater. In India, the countrywide toll now stands at 697 while the figure rose to 473 in Bangladesh Friday, although the country's official BSS news agency said unconfirmed reports suggested the figure was "much higher". Nepal Home Ministry Spokesman Gopendra Bahadur Pandey told AFP at least 123 people had died in floods and landslides across the country. The cost of the flooding in Bangladesh was at least seven billion dollars, the Bangladesh news agency said, quoting Food and Disaster Management Minister Kamal Ibne Yousuf. Officials in the northeastern Indian state of Assam said waterborne diseases had claimed 30 lives and said more were falling sick as the waters receded across the region. "There were at least 30 deaths in the past three to four days due to water-borne diseases, mainly diarrhoea and jaundice, breaking out in several flood-hit areas," a health department official said. "Up to 10,000 people are reported to be suffering from various ailments in relief camps," he added. Floodwaters in northern Bangladesh continued to recede Friday but lack of food, clean drinking water, and outbreaks of diarrhoea and skin diseases were aggravating the suffering of millions of flood victims, BSS said. In other areas, including the half-flooded capital Dhaka, the situation would remain unchanged for at least two more days as floodwaters from the north flowed downstream into central Bangladesh, the Flood Warning Centre said. Meanwhile, minister Yousuf praised the response of the international community. Bangladesh, where millions are marooned, could not meet the cost of repairing the damage to property and infrastructure caused by the "devastating" floods, he said. "We need international cooperation particularly to recovery and post-flood rehabilitation programmes," BSS quoted him as saying. USAID, the US government's international development agency, has approved 900,000 dollars of aid for emergency relief, the US embassy in Dhaka said. The aid is in addition to an earlier donation of 50,000 dollars. Yousuf said a UN team would arrive in Dhaka Friday to assess the damage from the floods that have submerged wide tracts of farmland, villages and cities. The UN said earlier it would launch an appeal over the next few weeks to provide aid for post-flood rehabilitation. Experts have said receding flood water flowing downstream from northern Bangladesh will not be able to drain into the Bay of Bengal because of high tides in the bay until the full moon on August 2. |
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