South Asia floods toll passes 2,000 mark
09/08/2007| IslamWeb
The death toll from the worst monsoon floods to hit South Asia in decades passed 2,000 on Thursday even as the torrents of muddy water recede from millions of acres of farmland.
Despite several dry days and falling water levels, the number of dead since the monsoon started in early June continues to climb.
Thousands of villages remain under water and millions of people have been displaced by the floodwaters, mainly in India and Bangladesh, which have also destroyed valuable crops.
India's home ministry disaster management division reported more than 1,500 deaths up to Wednesday afternoon alone.
In Bangladesh the toll has reached 346 after at least 18 more deaths were reported, said Shafiqul Islam, spokesman for the food and disaster management ministry.
Kathmandu has lost 95 dead since the monsoon started, with 330,000 people displaced.
But the Indian figures do not include scores of people still missing from numerous boating accidents, including one in Samastipur district which police said killed 65 people on Monday night.
In Patna, capital of India's worst-hit state Bihar, officials said Thursday that 28 more people had died, while neighbouring state Uttar Pradesh reported four more deaths overnight.
A home ministry spokesman said that in Bihar, where 1.1 million hectares (2.7 million acres) of farmland has been inundated, "the situation is gradually improving."
According to the ministr, nearly 6,500 villages remain submerged in Bihar, affecting a population of 13.8 million, while 2,400 are under water in Uttar Pradesh.
"Airdropping of food is continuing. Medical teams are being deployed by the government," it said, adding that thousands of boats were deployed to rescue stranded people.
The monsoon floods are part of what the World Meteorological Organisation said Tuesday was a global pattern of record extreme weather conditions since the start of the year.
As well as these floods, the UN weather agency's extreme weather list also includes a summer heatwave in Europe, heavy rain that ravaged part of southern China and the first documented tropical cyclone in the Arabian Sea.
The devastation in India threatens an entire season's crops in some areas, raising fears of food shortages.
Initial estimates say that regional losses from destroyed farms, houses and infrastructure are well above 100 million dollars for the past two weeks, and at least 320 million dollars for India alone since June 1.
Also raising the cost was the destruction of 30,000 homes while 44,000 more were partly damaged in Bihar.
Infrastructure also took a hit in the impoverished state with around 1,260 kilometres (780 miles) of roads and dozens of bridges needing repairs costing an estimated 40 million dollars, a state relief coordinator said.
In Uttar Pradesh, half a million hectares of farmland were flooded, while northeast Assam, where more than half the 6.7 million displaced returned home this week, was even worse off.
"A total of about 9,291 houses were totally damaged or washed away in the floods that swept through a land area of 870,000 hectares," Bhumidhar Barman, Assam revenue and relief minister, told AFP.
In neighbouring Bangladesh, which saw 40 percent of its land inundated in the annual flooding, one scientist said the rice-growing nation might see its GDP growth rate hit.
Crops on 1.6 million acres of farmland have been completely or partially damaged, officials say.
"There is dim hope that this crop, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, could be recovered," said Hamid Mia, a scientist working in Bangladesh for the Manila-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
The Dhaka government has urged its citizens and foreign donors to help feed nine million displaced people.
UN agenices, non-governmental organisations and charities have joined major government relief efforts.
Aid agencies say millions of dollars more are needed across South Asia for food and medicine.
PHOTO CAPTION
A child at a relief camp in Sitamarhi district of Bihar. (AFP)
AFP