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Last Updated: Feb 18th, 2008 - 14:39:01 |
KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - The death toll from flooding in eastern India rose by at least 63 on Monday as thousands more people were marooned due to fresh rains in parts of the monsoon-battered region, officials said.
The new flooding occurred as governments in South Asia struggled to provide aid to millions already affected by monsoon rains, with authorities in Bangladesh cancelling leave for state doctors due to the rising number of cases of waterborne diseases.
Around 780 have died in South Asia in the past few weeks.
Highlighting the desperation caused by weeks of bad weather and the anger at the authorities' response, an Indian villager died from injuries sustained after being beaten by police in the impoverished state of Bihar on Sunday.
Another 25 were hurt in Bihar's Saharsa district as police used batons to disperse villagers, furious about sluggish aid operations, an official said.
"It was tense and getting out of hand, forcing us to use batons to chase them away," said Kunwar Singh, a senior police officer, by phone.
Flood waters have been receding over the past few days in Bihar -- a densely populated state of 90 million -- but millions are yet to get any substantial relief from authorities.
As water levels fell, more bodies were discovered, pushing the death toll up by 58 in the state since Sunday morning.
A defense official said air drops had been stopped as the flood situation improved, though aid agencies said the air operation -- using just four helicopters -- had been grossly insufficient from the start.
FLOODING AGAIN, AND AGAIN
In Kolkata, eastern India's biggest city and capital of West Bengal state, rain water entered homes and disrupted transport.
Dozens of train services were cancelled, and buses and cars stayed off the streets.
Those who went to work had to wade through filthy water.
In the neighboring state of Orissa, thousands of people were cut off after swollen rivers, triggered by an overnight storm, broke through mud embankments and swamped villages. At least four people drowned in the state on Monday.
In the northern Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, landslides and flash floods killed 14 people late on Sunday, taking the toll to 25 in the state since Saturday.
A TV journalist on assignment was among those killed after she was hit by a landslide.
In Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries, more than 400 people have been killed since flooding began in mid-July.
On Monday, officials voiced concerns about diarrhea and other diseases. Nearly 45,000 people have been treated in hospitals and clinics across the country since late July.
"Diarrhea has taken an alarming turn with the floodwaters receding," said A.S.M. Matiur Rahman, health adviser to the country's army-backed interim government.
Rescuers pulled five bodies from the Bay of Bengal, a day after 14 fishermen went missing in storms.
In Nepal, at least six members of a family were killed in a landslide that buried a house in the country's west, taking the death toll in this year's monsoon rains to 105.
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