NEW DELHI: The death toll from two weeks of heavy rains across South Asia rose sharply as rescuers reached remote submerged villages in northern India amid a respite in the annual monsoon.
The rains across much of northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal have flooded rivers and submerged villages and farmland, killing at least 521 people and stranding some 19 million more, officials said.
Though the rains have abated, dozens of villages and much farmland remain under water across northern India.
Heavy rains since Tuesday also lashed Gujarat, killing at least 15 people, said D A Satya, a top state official.
Even though the rains have ceased in Gujarat, several villages remain under water and more than 22,000 people have been evacuated and moved to higher ground in Rajkot, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Surat and Porbander districts, where 945 villages were left without electricity, Satya said.
In Bihar, 29 people were reported dead from rain-related causes in the last two weeks, according to Manoj Srivastava, a member of the state disaster management committee.
Another 16 deaths were reported in northern Uttar Pradesh state on Thursday, state relief commissioner Umesh Sinha told reporters. Nearly 2,300 villages remained submerged, he added.
The causes for the deaths ranged from electrocution and house collapses to snake bites and boats capsizing.
With flood waters receding and thousands of villagers returning to their homes, aid workers have rushed food, clean drinking water and medicine to flood-hit areas to ward off an epidemic.
Nearly 1,000 people have been treated for cholera and gastroenteritis in Uttar Pradesh, officials said.
International aid agencies have warned that stagnant waters left by the floods are a lethal breeding ground for germs causing diarrhea, waterborne diseases, and various skin diseases, with children, who make up 40 per cent of South Asia’s population, particularly susceptible.
In Bangladesh, there were 1,400 reported cases of diarrhea this week, said Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the Word Health Organization.
The World Food Program and UNICEF have been distributing emergency food supplies to thousands of people in Bangladesh and Nepal, WFP spokesman Simon Pluess said in Geneva. India has not requested any aid, he said.
On Thursday, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launched an appeal for US$1.7 million (euro1.24 million) to help those affected by flooding in southern Nepal.
More than 21,500 families, or around 127,000 people, have been displaced by floods and landslides, while at least 26,500 houses have been damaged or destroyed, according to the Nepal Red Cross Society.
