Death Toll rises in South Asia floods
dgrm...@telus.net
Death Toll rises in South Asia floods
Reuters
Sunday, August 26, 2007; 6:39 AM
PATNA, India (Reuters) - Flood victims in eastern India were eating
raw wheat flour to survive as devastating monsoon flooding in South
Asia continued to spread misery among millions.
Nearly 2,000 people have been killed by snake bites, drowning,
diarrhea and in house collapses since July when swollen rivers burst
their banks, inundating huge areas in eastern India and Bangladesh.
The toll rose by 74 over the weekend.
In India's impoverished state of Bihar, villagers were eating wheat
flour after mixing it with water because they could not cook,
underlying the inadequacy of government relief efforts, even after
weeks of flooding.
"My family has been chewing flour soaked in water to survive as we do
not have access to firewood to make rotis (bread)," said Genu Sada,
90, in Begusarai district on Sunday.
At least 60 bodies were found by authorities since Saturday, pushing
the death toll to 480 in Bihar since floods began in mid-July,
officials said.
Angry at meager relief supplies, villagers blocked roads on Saturday
evening at eight places in the state, demanding more food, witnesses
said.
"We are doing whatever we can to help the people in crisis," said
Satish Chandra Jha, a senior government official.
TRUCKS AS HOMES
In neighboring West Bengal state, hundreds of people have turned
trucks stranded on highways into makeshift homes. Flood waters have
swamped vast areas, making elevated roads points of refuge.
"We are sleeping and eating inside the trucks as there is water
everywhere and we have nowhere to go," Anukul Samanta, a villager in
West Midnapore district, said.
In the eastern state of Orissa, at least four villagers have died from
water-borne diseases since Saturday, pushing the overall toll to 43 in
the state since floods began earlier this month.
Water was receding in many places, officials said.
Separately, health workers in the state were also struggling to
contain a cholera outbreak that has killed 90 people in the past two
weeks.
At least 4,000 people in 70 villages were sick and efforts were
underway to stop the disease from reaching epidemic proportions,
officials said.
The outbreak in Orissa has been caused by drinking polluted water and
eating contaminated meat, they added.
Across the border in Bangladesh, hundreds have died over the past few
weeks during massive flooding, with thousands of people suffering from
diarrhea.
At least 10 more people had died since Saturday, pushing the toll to
702 in the worst-ever floods in the densely populated country.
"Water-borne diseases, including diarrhea are still a threat," Maksuda
Begum, a health official, said.
Monsoon flooding occurs in the region each year but the rains this
season has been particularly heavy and incessant, leading some experts
to blame climate change as a possible cause.
(Additional reporting by Serajul Islam Quadir in Dhaka and a Reuters
reporter in Bhubaneswar)