S. Asia battles with flood havoc<\/p>\n
Agencies
\nDhaka\/New Delhi<\/p>\n
The death toll from floods ravaging South Asia soared to at least
\n1,120 on Tuesday as the World Food Program (WFP) warned
\nBangladesh was facing a \"major humanitarian crisis\" and India's
\nprime minister took to the air to survey relief efforts in his
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
Experts warned that the flood waters that have submerged two-
\nthirds of Bangladesh leaving 30 million people cut off or
\nhomeless will not recede for at least a week and that the
\nsituation will get worse before it improves.<\/p>\n
Vast swathes of land across Bangladesh remained under water
\nTuesday with only trees and rooftops visible in some places,
\nofficials said.<\/p>\n
Nearly half of the capital has been inundated turning some
\nstreets into rivers and forcing 250,000 of the city's most
\nvulnerable inhabitants out of their slum homes.<\/p>\n
At least 100 more people were reported killed in floods in
\nBangladesh on Tuesday, taking the death toll from three weeks of
\ndevastation to almost 400 in the country, officials said.<\/p>\n
A high tide in the Bay of Bengal would prevent water
\ndispersing because the sea level is expected to remain slightly
\nhigher until after the full moon on Aug. 2, experts said.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, water dispersing from northern areas would
\ncontinue to gush downstream resulting in worsening flooding in
\ncentral Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
The government discussed the joint distribution of aid with
\nnon-governmental organization representatives in Dhaka on Monday,
\nalthough it said it had sufficient relief materials to meet
\ncurrent demand, BSS said.<\/p>\n
The World Food Program (WFP) warned the low-lying country
\n\"could face a major humanitarian crisis\" in coming days and said
\nit was preparing to distribute 3,000 tonnes of rice to people in
\nnorthern and central Bangladesh.<\/p>\n
\"The WFP is particularly concerned about the upcoming high
\ntide in the Bay of Bengal expected in early August, which would
\nconsiderably limit the outflow of flood waters into the sea,\" UN
\nspokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York on Monday.<\/p>\n
Britain said it would provide US$18 million for relief
\nsupplies to be delivered via the WFP and the United Nations
\nDevelopment Fund, BSS said.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has also said it would donate $50,000 dollars in
\nemergency assistance.<\/p>\n
It is the worst flooding in Bangladesh since 1988 when about
\n3,500 people died.<\/p>\n
The floods have left more than 10 million people homeless.
\nAgriculture officials said paddy and other crops worth $380
\nmillion had been lost.<\/p>\n
The floods have killed more than 1,000 people across South
\nAsia, including about 450 in India's eastern state of Bihar.<\/p>\n
This year's death toll in Bihar was the highest in three years
\nof recurring floods. State relief and rehabilitation officer R.S.
\nTewari said he expected the toll to rise as rescuers reached
\nremote parts of the impoverished state where water was receding.<\/p>\n
\"The details came in only after the waters began receding and
\nour communication systems were restored,\" said Upendra Sharma,
\nspokesman of eastern Bihar's state's disaster management
\ndepartment.<\/p>\n
\"Most of the recoveries were made from the remotest of remote
\nareas,\" Sharma told reporters in Patna, from where Prime Minister
\nManmohan Singh on Tuesday took off on an aerial tour of the
\nstate's flood-affected areas.<\/p>\n
Singh, accompanied by three cabinet ministers, was to survey
\nrelief operations in the worst affected districts of Darbhanga,
\nBegusarai, Khagaria and Samastipur, officials said.<\/p>\n
Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi is to ask Singh for some 72
\nbillion rupees ($1.5 billion) as compensation for flood damages,
\nsenior state official K. Subramanian said.<\/p>\n
\"This amount is based only on the estimated calculation of
\ndamages to roads, bridges, crops and public properties and actual
\nloss could be calculated only when floods are over,\" said
\nSubramanian.<\/p>",
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