Dhaka - Floods have forced at least half a million people from their homes in one district of Bangladesh and drinking water is scarce there, a Red Cross official said yesterday.
The situation in Comilla "is very, very serious with at least 500,000 people displaced," Mr Ian Briggs of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said. He said staff who visited the area reported that drinking water was scarce and this was causing dysentery in some cases, but that government rations had reached the area and there were no food shortages.
The district, 70 km east of Dhaka, has been worst hit by this year's floods after a major embankment on the Gumti river gave way.
Fresh areas were submerged in Comilla on Wednesday as runoff from the hills in India further swelled rivers. The main road linking Dhaka with Chittagong in the south-east was flooded and there were fears it might have to be closed.