DHAKA, 28 July 2004 — At least 100 more people were reported killed in floods in Bangladesh yesterday, taking the death toll from three weeks of devastation to almost 400 in the country, officials said.
About two-thirds of the low-lying and impoverished nation is under water in the worst floods in 15 years with the capital, Dhaka, among the worst-hit areas.
Disaster relief officials said new deaths were reported from all over the country as a result of drowning, disease, snakebites and house collapses.
In Dhaka, the floods have inundated large parts of the Bangladeshi capital, forcing thousands of families into shelters where authorities were distributing food and drinking water.
Officials said more than 100,000 people had moved into schools and high-rise buildings in the city, and thousands more were expected to join them. “There is hardly any room left for them,” said an official in the Old Dhaka area. Some of the shelters had been flooded, witnesses said.
A city soccer stadium had been turned into a shelter for about 10,000 people. “We came here from slums around the city but life is even harder here, with little food but no electricity, no latrines and mosquito bites at night,” said Sufia Begum, a woman taking shelter at the stadium.
The number of people nearly doubled in one Old Dhaka shelter in the 24 hours to yesterday afternoon, with food and medical supplies running short. Traders opened a free-food kitchen, trying to supplement government efforts to help.
Many streets were under waist-deep water and boats had replaced rickshaws as the main mode of transport.
Flood monitors said the conditions deteriorated further yesterday in Dhaka and other central districts. Dhaka’s sewage system has stopped functioning and water-borne diseases are rampant. “Conditions are getting worse every day. The water is rising and bringing in more filth,” said government official Abul Kalam. “We are living in an open sewer.”
Experts warned that the flood waters will not recede for at least a week and that the situation will get worse before it improves.
A high tide in the Bay of Bengal would prevent water dispersing because the sea level is expected to remain slightly higher until after the full moon on Aug. 2, experts said.
The World Food Program (WFP) warned the low-lying country “could face a major humanitarian crisis” in coming days.
