By IANS
New Delhi : At least 1,835 people have lost their lives and more than 38 million have been affected by this year’s monsoon floods across India, the UN has said.
The UN’s Children Fund (Unicef) expressed deep concern over the continuing threat from hunger, disease and malnutrition for the millions of children and women affected by the flooding in south Asia.
“The death toll continues to climb in India and Nepal where rainfall over the last few days has caused even more floods and landslides and cut off road links in many districts – bringing further displacement, misery and desperation,” the UN agency said in a statement Saturday.
“Across the subcontinent, including Pakistan, almost 2,800 people have lost their lives and nearly 50 million people have been affected.
“India has been hit the hardest with 1,835 lives lost so far, which includes 30 people killed in flash flooding and land sliding in Himachal Pradesh over the weekend,” it added.
The UN said that more than 1.28 million homes have been damaged or destroyed in the 204 flood-affected districts.
Approximately 24 million people have been affected in the worst hit districts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, and Orissa. According to Indian authorities, a total of 20 states have been hit by monsoon floods since June.
“This includes three million children under five years of age,” the world body stated.
Although flood waters were beginning to recede across the country, more rainfall in parts of northern India over the weekend continued to leave many villages stranded, with their road links either washed away or submerged.
With the weatherman expecting more rains in the coming days, the statement said: “Unicef’s biggest concern is that the standing water becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes and waterborne diseases.”
In Bihar where 14 million have been affected, Unicef has despatched five truckloads of relief materials to the districts of Samastipur, Madhepura, East Champaran, Saharsa and Supaul this week.
“This latest batch of supplies will benefit 30,000 people, mostly women and children,” the agency said.
At least 2.5 million people have been affected in Uttar Pradesh, a state with a population of approximately 166 million.
Unicef is supporting the state government’s deployment of 512 medical teams currently providing service in the 20 most affected districts.
In Assam 6.74 million people have been affected in 26 of the 27 districts since the beginning of the floods.
Over the last few days relief camps have been dismantled and people are returning to their villages, with rehabilitation work focussing on hygiene and infant and child feeding, particularly within the six worst affected districts, the UN body noted.
Health workers are now starting to conduct measles immunisations and have distributed water-purifying tablets, ORS, and insecticide-treated bed nets.