Floods trigger health scare

Guwahati: Packed hospitals in eastern India struggled to cope with people suffering from water-borne diseases on Saturday and marooned villagers clashed with police as some of the worst floods in living memory ravaged South Asia.

More than 250 people have died over the past 11 days after torrential monsoon rains caused rivers to burst their banks in the region. The number of dead topped 1,400 out of which 1,100 deaths were reported from India alone, Unicef said in a statement.

Health workers and aid groups in Assam in northeast India were working round the clock to treat and feed many of the three million people displaced or surrounded by flood waters in the state.

Hospital wards in affected areas were full. Elsewhere, villagers were getting desperate.

"Our family survived for a week on buffalo milk but now the animal has stopped producing milk as it has gone without food for days," said Meghu Yadav, a villager in Bihar state.

Many people were suffering from diarrhoea, dysentery and fever. Officials have also warned of outbreaks of malaria.

"The victims are left to survive on their own," said an aid worker with an Indian voluntary agency supervising relief work in Assam.

Bangladesh said the situation this year appeared to be worse than the floods in 2004 which inundated more than a third of the country. More than seven million people are marooned in Bangladesh.

thanx for the info siya

hmmm i read it today, thanx for the news.. wat has happend to the global weather, this time its too much of it

Yyo flood illatha natteennu kelkkana kadhakal aalochichaal thanne pediyaakunnu. Lets hope for the best

Thanks 4 the info macha