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| Floods 2004 |
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Further monsoon rains expected today threaten to worsen the floods that inundated vast swathes of land pushing the official death toll to about 400 since July 10, Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre officials said yesterday. Floodwaters that have submerged two-thirds of Bangladesh leaving 30 million people cut off or homeless will not recede from the centre for at least a week, AFP quoted experts as warning. Executive Engineer Selim Bhuiyan of the flood warning centre told The Daily Star that floods would worsen in the event of rains in Bangladesh or India, piling more pressure on the central districts. Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely in a few places until 6:00pm today, the meteorological department said in a weathercast. Selim Bhuiyan said the floodwaters receded significantly from the north and northeast but have swelled by 9 to 18 cm a day over the last few days in Dhaka, where yesterday's rise was recorded at 3 cm in apparent stability.
A high tide in the Bay of Bengal would prevent water dispersing because the sea level is expected to remain slightly higher until the full moon on August 2, the experts told AFP. Meantime, water dispersing from northern areas would continue to gush downstream resulting in worsening flooding in central Bangladesh. The floods in Madaripur, Rajbari, Shariatpur, Gopalganj, Narsingdi, Kishoreganj and Brahmanbaria is likely to improve, but the situation in Tangail, Dhaka, Manikganj, Munshiganj, Narayanganj and Chandpur is likely to slightly deteriorate, according to the flood forecasting centre. Nearly half of the capital has been inundated turning some streets into rivers and forcing 250,000 of the city's most vulnerable inhabitants out of their slum homes. People took to boats instead of rickshaws and other vehicles in parts of Dhaka where filthy waters gushing from the overwhelmed sewerage system merged with floodwaters and inundated more streets and houses, blighting the normal life in the city of over 13 million. The floods hit 51 of Dhaka City Corporation's 90 wards, including the commercial heart of Motijheel and Gulshan and Banani forcing thousands of people to take refuge in 206 DCC makeshift shelters. Others have stayed back at their shanty homes sleeping on platforms on stilts as the sewage polluted waters eddy around them. Many others are sleeping under plastic sheeting on pavements. The Buriganga that swelled 3 cm yesterday was flowing 65 cm above the danger mark and the Turag registering a rise of 5 cm was raging 133 cm above the danger level. HUMANITARIAN CRISIS The World Food Programme has warned that Bangladesh "could face a major humanitarian crisis" in coming days and is preparing to distribute 3,000 tonnes of rice to people in the northern and central districts. Although Bangladesh has not appealed for international help, but said it would seek support from donor agencies for post-flood rehabilitation. The United Nations is likely to appeal for "urgent assistance" for Bangladesh which has been hit by the worst deluge since 1998. The decision came after a three-member UN team held talks with Food and Disaster Management Minister Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, AFP said. "Such an appeal has to be endorsed by UN affiliated bodies and thus would take at least 10 days to issue," said Dilruba Haider, assistant representative of the UN Development Programme in Dhaka. She said the government's decision not to make an appeal was "quite respectable" and the situation till now did not warrant declaration of a state of emergency. Floods across south Asia, including parts of northeastern India and Nepal have claimed hundreds of lives over the past 18 days. The flooding is the heaviest seen in Bangladesh since the worst ever floods of 1998 when more than 700 people died and 21 million were left homeless.
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