South Asia floods displace 25 million and kill 1,400

INDIA: Nearly 25 million people have been displaced by flooding and 1,400 killed in South Asia as the worst monsoon rains to hit the region in decades continued to wreak havoc on Saturday.

Northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal are the worst affected according to officials dealing with the crisis, with many people falling victim to disease.

In India alone, the number of dead topped 1,100 by late Friday, the United Nations’ child welfare agency said in a statement.

“According to government estimates, the cumulative number of human casualties stands at 1,103 in 138 affected districts,” said UNICEF.

Northern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states and northeastern Assam were among the worst off, with 10 million people hit by floods in Bihar alone, according to a Press Trust of India news agency report on Saturday.

In Uttar Pradesh, 19 more deaths were reported overnight taking the toll there to 119, state relief commissioner Umesh Sinha, said.

Some 2,400 villages are under water, he said, adding that boats were put into service to deliver aid.

Downstream in West Bengal state, “Large swathes of land were flooded Saturday as two rivers breached their embankments,” relief minister Mortaza Hossain said.

Almost 16,000 people were suffering from water-borne diseases “as clean drinking water has become scarce in the flood-affected villages,” Hossain said, adding that medical teams have been rushed to the area.

In Assam state, 5.5 million were displaced in 26 of the state’s 27 districts, chief minister Taun Gogoi said.

“Teams of doctors and paramedics are on full alert and visiting flood-hit areas, although there are no reports of any major outbreak of waterborne diseases,” he said.

Floods were also wreaking havoc for 1.4 million people in Uttar Pradesh, officials said, with further heavy rains expected.

“The situation we have now is unprecedented in the past 30 years,” A.K Chowdhury, Bihar chief secretary, told AFP by phone.

Two Indian Air Force helicopters started air-dropping food to villagers marooned in Bihar’s worst-hit Darbhanga district.

As many as 24 people died in the state on Friday, PTI said, and early estimates from officials suggest losses of 450 million rupees (11 million dollars) to the state exchequer.

Bangladesh said the situation this year appeared to be worse than floods in 2004 which inundated more than a third of the country.

“In the last 15 days, all major rivers rose above danger levels and their water has already inundated some 40 per cent of the country’s total land area,” said Saiful Hossain of Bangladesh’s Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.

Deaths from monsoon rains there topped 200 on Saturday, with at least 16 more fatalities reported overnight, according to the Bangladesh food and disaster management ministry, taking the monsoon toll this year to 207.

“It’s a major flood and one of the worse in years. In some places the situation is far worse than in 2004,” said Hossain, referring to floods three years ago when 38 percent of land was inundated, forcing millions to flee their homes.

This year, 7.5 million people have been either displaced or marooned in villages as the floods washed away or damaged about 89,000 mud-built or tin-roofed houses.

Of those an estimated 255,000 have been moved to government shelters.

The government has mobilised thousands of military, public and private volunteers to distribute relief supplies including dry food and water purification tablets, but a lack of boats has hampered their efforts.

In Nepal, the home ministry said the toll from monsoon-triggered flooding and landslides stood at 91 on Saturday, with most of the deaths in the Terai plains region on Nepal’s southern border with India.

New Delhi, Sunday, AFP