BANGLADESH: Bangladesh villagers cope as best they can with floods

Monsoon floods continue to wreak havoc in Bangladesh. Villagers in Bangladesh were dealing as best they could on Monday (August 6) with the latest phase of the annual monsoon floods, which began two to three weeks ago. More than 455 people have died in India, Bangladesh and Nepal since the flooding began. The floods, the worst in living memory in some areas, have affected 35 million people in the region and are being seen by some as a symptom of climate change. Ten million people have been made homeless or left stranded, and are becoming increasingly desperate as they face food shortages and water-borne diseases even as the waters begin to recede in parts of Nepal and northeast India. "For the last 10 days we have been stranded in our flooded village, our homes are flooded, we are living in a painful situation along with our children and cattle," said Riku Begum from the village of Brahaman Gaon on the Padma River. While the rains had eased in northern and northeastern India, flood waters were inundating fresh areas in central Bangladesh, including the capital of Dhaka. With floods sweeping nearly two-thirds of Bangladesh, 36 more people were drowned or killed by snakebites overnight, taking the confirmed death toll from more than two weeks of deluge to 156.

ITN Source | August 6, 2007

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