Nearly 600 dead in South Asia floods

Nearly 600 dead in South Asia floods

Nearly 600 people have died and millions have been affected by monsoon floods in South Asia as relief and rescue operations continue.

South Asia floods
Photo from video

The latest floods and landslides in the subcontinent began in the second week of August, as the annual monsoon strengthened its grip over the northern and eastern parts of the region. 

Indian authorities sought military help in two districts of northern Uttar Pradesh state after fresh heavy rains left hundreds of villages marooned.
As many as 33 out of 75 districts in the most populated Indian state are reeling from floods that have left 55 people dead.
In India's worst hit Bihar state the death toll reached 153 following one of the deadliest floods to hit the region since 2008.
Nearly 400,000 people have sought shelter in relief camps and an estimated 10 million have been affected by the flood. 
Anirudh Kumar, a top disaster management agency official in the state, said more than 5,000 emergency workers including 2,000 soldiers were supporting relief and rescue operations.
"Nearly 1,300 shelters have been opened to accommodate the affected people," said Kumar.
Both Bihar and Uttar Pradesh border Nepal, which was hit by floods at the weekend and where the death toll is 123. At least 20 percent of the 28 million population is affected in what the United Nations has called the worst flood to hit the country in 15 years.


At least a hundred people have died in neighbouring Bangladesh with close to six million affected by the floods.


The government has opened nearly a thousand shelters in schools and colleges where nearly 300,000 people have taken shelter, the country's disaster management department said.
The International Red Cross called it a humanitarian crisis and said urgent action was needed.
"Millions of people across Nepal, Bangladesh and India face severe food shortages and disease caused by polluted flood waters," said Martin Faller, deputy regional director for Asia Pacific, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Every year hundreds die in landslides and floods during the monsoon season that hits India's southern tip in early June and sweeps across the South Asia region for four months.

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