Rains hinder flood rescue efforts

INDIA:INCESSANT MONSOON rain disrupted relief and rescue operations in eastern India's flood-ravaged Bihar province yesterday, causing untold misery to more than 2½ million people marooned, waiting to be evacuated to safety.

Homeless villagers from 14 northern Bihar districts were forced into eating uncooked rice and flour mixed with polluted water as aid agencies feared the outbreak of infectious diseases among hundreds of thousands of evacuees crowded into makeshift relief camps in the worst floods there in over half a century.

"Heavy rains are bound to increase the miseries of thousands who have taken shelter along railway tracks, canal embankments and elevated roads," Bihar disaster management minister Nitish Mishra said.

Bad weather, he declared, had also affected airdrops of relief material like water and food packets over the past two days. Until late afternoon air force helicopters were unable to take off due to the rain, further hampering relief efforts.

And with the meteorological office predicting more showers over the next few days, the devastation and misery would become even more profound, officials warned.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh who visited the flood-ravaged region called it a "national calamity" and announced a €230 million aid package.

Officially, 12 people have died with some 152,000 people evacuated over the past week from the worst affected districts of Madhepura, Saharsa, Supaul, Araria and Katihar after the Kosi river, flowing through the state from neighbouring Nepal, changed course after almost two centuries.

But ActionAid, the international non-governmental organisation claimed that Bihar's floods had claimed at least 2,000 lives.

"By not counting those gone missing, the government estimates not only result in inadequate compensation and rehabilitation processes, but also underplay the need for rescue and relief, adversely impacting the affected community in need of help," ActionAid's Dr PV Unnikrishnan said.

Army columns continued to ferry aid to some 725 marooned villages, while 600 boats from the federal National Disaster Response Force were deployed in the worst affected areas.

However, these efforts remain inadequate given the enormity of the flooding that had inundated millions of homes.