Floods Inundate Southern Asia: Monsoon Death Toll Tops 500

DHAKA, Bangladesh, July 26, 2004 (ENS) - At least 200 people have lost their lives and thousands more are ill with water-borne disease as the worst monsoon flooding in a generation has hit Bangladesh. More than half of all people in the country are affected by the floodwaters rushing down from the Himalayas to the sea.

Across the region - including India, Nepal and Bangladesh - the death toll stands above 500 people, and at least 30 million others are affected.

The sewer and water systems in Dhaka have stopped functioning, and experts blamed lack of any effective warning system and poor maintenance of flood control structures for the catastrophic damage in this city of over 13 million.

Water is everywhere, as government offices, businesses, schools and homes are inundated, yet clean water is nowhere to be found because the sewer pipes have burst, contaminating the drinking water supply. All low lying areas around the city are under water, and the government is considering calling out troops to help relieve the pressure on Dhaka citizens.

Water levels are so high that boats are afloat on the runway of the Sylhet airport. All domestic and international flights have been suspended, while the domestic airport in Saidpur is also shut down. Road and rail links to Dhaka and Sylhet have been affected.

"The flood situation in Dhaka is likely to deteriorate further," said the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre in its bulletin on Sunday, as the rivers surrounding the city continued to swell taking in water rolling down from upstream.

But today's bulleting from the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre is cause for hope that things may ease off shortly. The Brahmaputra-Jamuna and the Ganges-Padma rivers are falling, the center reports, and rivers in the Meghna Basin are also falling, not rising.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been left stranded by severe monsoon flooding in Bangladesh. (Photo courtesy WFP)

In Chandpur, a floodwaters have deepened, causing people to panic. The "Bangladesh Observer" correspondent in Chandpur reports that the entire town is under "waist to knee deep water." People are sheltering in schools and shelter camps, where there is no food.

Over four million people in villages and towns in northern and central Bangladesh are marooned and displaced from their homes, forced to take refuge in public buildings and road embankments. Many others are stranded on small hamlets surrounded by water.

Opposition leader Sheikh Hasina on Sunday asked the government to ensure adequate assistance, including food, baby food, safe water, medicines and shelters, for the distressed people.

Members of the Dhaka University Teachers Association on Sunday decided to donate their one day’s salary to help the flood affected people.

In three districts of northern Bangladesh where the flooding is worst, the UN World Food Programme is distributing high-energy biscuits to 14,800 people. The distribtion is being carried out in partnership with the UK's Save the Children in Kurigam, Islamic Relief in Rangpur and Terre des Hommes in Gaibandha.

In India and in Bangladesh, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) is responding with family packs, which include cooking utensils, clothing, mosquito nets, towels, bed sheets and tarpaulin sheeting.

As the floodwaters rose in Morigaon, in India's Assam state, mothers shook their children out of bed and rushed them out into the night in search of safety, says UNICEF's Kiran Negi.

"It was a pitch dark outside and they waded through knee-deep water towards the outskirts of the village," said Negi, leaving behind everything except what they could carry. Nearly half the people in Assam have been displaced; people are staying in a series of small, isolated islands as the Brahamaputra River rises around them.

One of thousands of flooded homes in Assam (Photo courtesy IFRC)

The International Federation’s disaster management delegate in India, Mohamed Babiker, was a member of one of the assessment teams and he too, warns that the situation could further deteriorate, "There is the possibility of more fresh rains and further water flowing in from water adjoining states," he said.

The head of the Federation’s India delegation, Azmat Ulla says efforts over the past few years to increase the Indian Red Cross’s ability to response to disasters, achieved with the generous support of donors such as Britain’s Department for International Development, is paying dividends.

"I can see disaster response activities occurring through all levels, from the grassroots to districts through to the national headquarters. The investment is beginning to pay off," he said.

Further upstream in the hills of Nepal, flooding rivers are causing havoc, but exact details are difficult to get, the IFRC says, because many of the districts are affected by the ongoing conflict with the Maoists, which makes it dangerous to travel to collect information.

The government has started reaching the affected areas by helicopters and has begun distribution of dry foods.

The Nepal Red Cross has only about 1,000 aid packages left, but July is still early in the monsoon period and further flooding and landslides are likely to occur. Nepal may need at least 25,000 more packages, relief officials estimate.