International aid sought for Bangladesh

The United Nations is to seek international aid to help rehabilitate Bangladesh after devastating floods washed away rice crops, villages and livestock and killed more than 450 people in the impoverished nation.

Torrential monsoon rains and melting snow from the Himalayas have engulfed two-thirds of Bangladesh and large chunks of neighbouring India, and caused deaths in Pakistan and Nepal.

Landslides, house collapses, drowning, disease and snake bites have brought the death toll across South Asia to 1,338 since mid-June, and it is expected to surpass last year’s figure of 1,500 for the annual rainy season.

Flooding and related problems have killed 768 people in India, 113 in Nepal and five in Pakistan.

In Bangladesh, a delta nation of 140 million people, the floods have killed 452 people and marooned or displaced up to 30 million people, the Food and Disaster Ministry said.

The worst floods in six years have overwhelmed the nation as relief workers struggled to get supplies to millions of people crammed into temporary shelters in schools, on boats or river embankments.

“The United Nations … will embark on preparations for an international appeal in response to the severe flooding in Bangladesh,” the UN said in Dhaka.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has said Bangladesh cannot cope alone with the devastation.

“We need international assistance to rebuild roads, schools and bridges washed away by the floods,” Zia said, while visiting flood-affected people in eastern Chandpur district.

She urged Bangladeshis to “be brave and resilient in this time of distress”.

More than 40% of Dhaka, a city of 10 million, is flooded, with residents moving in with relatives in drier areas, taking refuge in shelters at multi-storeyed buildings, or camping out on raised pavements along major roads.