Some 20 million people have been hit by severe flooding in Bangladesh, where rivers around the capital Dhaka burst their banks yesterday.
A group of Bangladeshi flood-hit victims wade through knee-dip water,
Nearly half of the city of 10 million people is under water. Parts of the central business district and two smart residential areas were submerged. Up to to 100,000 people have crammed into shelters in the city.
Nearly two-thirds of Bangladesh - a delta nation of 140 million people - has been flooded since the start of the monsoon in late June. The floods - the worst there since 1998 - have affected about 20 million people in 45 out of the country's 64 districts, the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said.
At least 285 people have been killed in Bangladesh in drownings, snakebites, boating accidents and house collapses since the floods began three weeks ago.
The current floods have killed more than 700 people across South Asia, including almost 400 in India's Bihar state.
In Bangladesh, the floods have rendered more 10 million people homeless, officials said. In many remote areas, authorities and aid agencies are finding it too difficult to reach relief materials.
Agencies