South Asia floods kill hundreds

Monsoon floods have killed over 455 people in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, including a teenager who drowned scrambling for provisions.

The floods, which began two to three weeks ago and are 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 are homeless or have been left stranded, and are becoming increasingly desperate as they face food shortages and water-borne diseases.

In 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, an official said.

In Nepal, where around 60 people have died in the last couple of weeks, hundreds of people were returning to their muddy homes as water levels receded. Over 9,700 homes have been completely destroyed, the home ministry estimated.

Victims have been reduced to fighting over food supplies and looting and one teenager, named as Sarfaraz, drowned as he clambered for air-dropped supplies in the Darbhanga district of eastern India's Bihar state.

In Bihar village, women and children clashed over small packets of biscuits being handed out by a local aid organisation, while villagers in another part of the state looted a tractor full of grain, officials said.

"We are surviving on snails as we have nothing to eat," Bhagwan Manjhi of Bihar's East Champaran district said.

A mother-of-four named Taslima refused to leave on a relative's makeshift raft as she could not afford to leave her five cows and some chickens behind, saying: "They are my only hope for the future."

While the rains have eased in northern and northeastern India, flood waters were inundating fresh areas in central Bangladesh, including the capital of Dhaka, officials said.

UNICEF said it is starting to see early reports of diarrhoea, and urged Bihar's government to drop water pouches instead of rigid containers, which have been bursting on impact.

Marzio Babille, who is co-ordinating the UN response to the Bihar flooding, said he is also worried about diseases such as measles in a state where only a third of children are fully vaccinated and nearly two-thirds are malnourished.

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