Michael Heath
The death toll from monsoon floods in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan rose to more than 4,000 people and the humanitarian crisis could worsen without more aid, the United Nations said.
Floods in the June to September monsoon season ``disrupted the lives of more than 66 million -- a number larger than the population of France'' the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday in a statement.
Rains last month inundated areas that were starting to recover from flooding, stranding another 100,000 people in Bangladesh and leaving millions homeless in India, OCHA said. Northeast India was hit by three successive floods this year.
Stagnant waters are contributing to the outbreak of disease, the UN said. In Pakistan, more than 86,000 cases of malaria have been reported and 70,000 people are suffering from gastroenteritis, mainly from drinking contaminated water.
Relief efforts need greater resources to cope with the scale of the crisis, the UN said in the joint statement with World Vision, Save the Children, Oxfam, Mercy Corps and CARE.
``A more forceful international response is necessary to prevent an even greater catastrophe that will have debilitating social consequences for the affected population,'' the organizations said in the statement.
Floods killed livestock, ruined agricultural land and put tens of thousands of children at risk, they added, calling for strategies to reduce the risk of such disasters.
``The wellbeing of millions of people is at stake,'' said Gareth Owen, emergency director of Save the Children U.K. The international community ``must be better prepared for this cyclical yearly monsoon flooding throughout the region.''
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Bloomberg
South Asia flood death toll rises to 4,000 as UN seeks more Aid
FE Team | Published: October 06, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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