Lethal floods in Asia

Fear of epidemics follow lethal floods in southern Asia                                 · Relief agencies say disease may ravage refugee camps · Forecasters warn of higher water levels in Dhaka                                                    Randeep Ramesh, south Asia correspondent Monday    August    6, 2007 The Guardian                         Millions of people who have been left marooned by torrential monsoon rains south of the Himalayas face an uncertain future cut off from their submerged villages amid fears that epidemics would spread unchecked in the waterlogged region, say relief agencies. Although water levels are receding in many areas, there are concerns that without swift action diseases could ravage those in the makeshift relief camps dotting the northern part of the subcontinent. In the eastern Indian state of Assam, where up to 3 million people have taken refuge in emergency camps, the threat of more flooding around the Brahmaputra river has receded but the hot, humid aftermath has fed concerns of outbreaks of malaria and encephalitis. Tarun Gogoi, chief minister of Assam, told Reuters: "We are really worried about the outbreak of an epidemic in Assam now. The damaged caused by floods this year has incurred a huge loss to properties and human beings." The Indian state of Bihar is still seeing riverbanks bursting. The country's air force said it was stepping up air drops across the state, where floods have washed away crops worth hundreds of millions of rupees. Grim news has continued to roll in. An elderly couple and two relatives, who refused to leave their village, were crushed to death when their home collapsed on them over the weekend in India's Uttar Pradesh state, Surendra Srivastava, a police spokesman, told Associated Press. In Bangladesh floods have inundated the capital, Dhaka, forcing many to flee to the homes of neighbours, relatives and friends. An estimated 300,000 people have been moved into refugee camps and there have been reports of outbreaks of diarrhoea and dysentery in the shelters. Government meteorologists in Dhaka said water levels would continue to rise. Across the region more than 20 million people have been affected - 6.9 million in Bangladesh, 13.7 million in India and hundreds of thousands more in Nepal. The monsoon rains begin in June and run until September and bring floods and landslides across the region. Last week Indian government figures, cited by Unicef, showed that more than 1,100 people had died since June. Aid agencies are gearing up for a massive response to the annual downpour. The Red Cross and other relief agencies have launched an emergency Asia Floods Appeal to raise funds for the millions of people affected.