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Heavy
monsoon rain is hampering relief efforts in north-eastern
India, where floods have made several million people homeless
and many need food and medical help.
The
floods have swept away river banks, roads and bridges,
and many villagers have been homeless for more than a
week.
Some
food aid is getting through, but many survivors are reported
to be going down with fever and diarrhoea because of the
lack of clean drinking water and medicines.
Nearly
300 people have died in flash floods and landslides in
India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
With
more heavy rains forecast, there are fears the numbers
could rise.
In
more remote districts the villagers are crowded along
areas of high ground, living in makeshift shelters covered
with plastic sheeting.
In the state of Assam alone, 1.5 million people have been
left homeless.
Need
for medical aid
Emergency
medical centres have been set up. But the BBC's correspondent,
Jill McGivering, reports that in some areas of Assam,
villagers complained that they had not yet had access
to government doctors, treatment and medicines.
Some
villagers have been moved to government relief centres
in schools and public buildings, and Assam's Chief Minister
Prafulla Mahanta says funds are being made available.
But
other officials complain of a lack of resources, such
as boats to reach stranded communities.
Many
villagers are reported to have been without food or medicine
for nearly a week.
The
threat of disease is a major concern now, with children
and the elderly particularly vulnerable. Malaria and diarrhoea
spread easily when large areas are submerged by dirty
water.
Tube
wells have been provided, but local people complain the
water quality is poor.
"There
is a scarcity of pure drinking water and I am feeding
my children with coconut water as a precaution to save
them from water-borne diseases," said flood victim
Dilip Das.
Dr
Kamala Das, a doctor in Assam's Nalbari district, said
wells and other water sources were "filled with filth
and slush, leading to an outbreak of dysentery and stomach
ailments".
She
said hundreds of children and elderly people were suffering
from waterborne diseases.
Aid
workers say get food and material aid to the affected
people has to be the priority.
The
International Red Cross says it will launch an appeal
for funds on Friday.
With
homes and farmland devastated, rebuilding the region's
infrastructure is likely to be a long, slow process.
About
3,000 villages have been flooded in Assam alone, and the
damage has been made worse because of the simple, basic
structure of many houses.
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