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Update 11/09/2007 - (Source BBC)
The number of people made homeless
by flooding in north-east India and Bangladesh has risen to some 1.5
million, officials say.
India's Assam state is suffering its
third wave of floods this year, caused by heavy rains over the past
four days. The army has evacuated 800,000 people as the Brahmaputra
rive and its tributaries flow at danger levels.
Downstream in Bangladesh, officials
say half a million people are affected and many have been moved to
safer places. In Assam state, thousands of village homes, bridges,
electricity poles and telecommunication towers have been washed away
by the flooded rivers and 13 people have died.
"These are the worst floods this
year. The losses are huge," Assam government spokesman Dinesh Deka
said.
Since the annual monsoon rains began
in June, about 50 people have been killed in Assam and more than 12
million have been people affected, including in the latest wave of
flooding. As water levels continue to rise, villagers have moved to
higher ground using boats or rafts made from bamboo and banana
trees, leaving behind their belongings and livestock.
In neighbouring Bangladesh too, the
situation continues to remain grim with more than half a million
people being forced out of their homes by the swirling waters. it is
the second wave of floods in Bangladesh in less than a month.
After the first spell of flood waters
subsided, people went back to their homes to assess the damage. But
fresh floods have forced them to return to the shelters again.
Since July, more than 2,000 people in
eastern India and neighbouring Bangladesh have been killed by snake
bites, drowning, diarrhoea and from houses collapsing after swollen
rivers burst their banks as a result of incessant monsoon rains.
APPEAL INITIATED - 06/08/2007
South Asia Flood Appeal - More
than 28 million people have been forced to flee their homes after
monsoon rains and melting Himalayan snow caused rivers to burst
their banks. Roads have been washed away and hundreds of villages
have been cut off by swollen rivers. Main areas affected are a third
of Bangladesh, northern India & Nepal.
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