Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - An official said on Thursday that the government of Bangladesh is getting ready for the spread of water-...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - An official said on Thursday that the government of Bangladesh is getting ready for the spread of water-borne diseases and is working quickly to get drinking water to people who are stuck in their homes because of flooding in a quarter of the country.
Atiqul Haque, director general of the Department of Disaster Management, told Reuters that nearly 2,000 rescue teams were trying to reach flood victims in 17 of the country's 64 districts and bring them water and other supplies.
"Now that the flood waters are going down, there could be an epidemic. "We worry that water-borne diseases will spread if we don't get clean water soon," Haque said.
"Our top priority is making sure there is water to drink."
More than 4.5 million people are stuck, and 42 people have died, as a result of the worst flooding in the northeastern region of Sylhet in more than a century.
An official from the agriculture ministry said that the floods hurt 75,000 hectares of paddy and 300,000 hectares of other crops, such as maize, jute, and vegetables.
"The damage is very bad. As more land is flooded, more crops could be lost."
Fatema Begum, a mother of three who lives in the district that was hit the hardest, Sunamganj, said that the floods had destroyed everything.
She said of her small thatched hut, "There isn't even a sign." "There isn't even a second set of clothes for us. No one has come to help."
Between June and October, the monsoon brings heavy rain and floods to South Asia. This is especially true in low-lying places like Bangladesh, where rivers that are filled with water from the Himalayas often overflow.
But extreme weather is happening more often, and environmentalists warn that climate change could cause disasters that are even worse.
Assam, a state in eastern India, was also hit hard by the heavy rains. On Thursday, Indian air force helicopters were sent to drop food and other supplies to communities that had been cut off.
A district official, Keerthi Jalli, told Reuters that more than 280,000 people were stuck in Silchar town, most of which was under water.
"We have never seen so much destruction in our lifetimes. "The water came up to my chest," Monowar Barbhuyan, a teacher from Silchar, told Reuters.
