18 July 2004	Sunday	29 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

PATNA/DHAKA, July 17: Hungry and angry flood victims protested over delays in aid in India and Nepal as the death toll from weeks of monsoon flooding in South Asia crossed 350 on Saturday.

Authorities warned the situation could worsen in central Bangladesh, where the river Padma continued to swell while relentless rains caused more landslides in Nepal.

The Sub-continent's worst floods in 15 years caused a crisis in relief efforts as angry villagers marooned in remote areas of Bihar blamed officials for being slow to deliver aid.

Farther away, in Japan and Korea, torrential rains have claimed 20 lives in the past week. China, too, is grappling with angry rainstorms that have forced people to leave their homes.

In Bangladesh, victims asked for drinking water amid swirling waters, while people in parts of Nepal took part in rallies accusing relief officials of supplying poor quality rice.

"There is a short supply of food and medicines in flood-affected areas and people are starving," said a Nepali who asked not to be identified.

Six people died in Bihar, taking to 107 the death toll in the state of 83 million people, while about a dozen died of water-borne diseases in Nepal.

About 12 million people in Bangladesh, India and Nepal have been hit by torrential rains and more than eight million left marooned or homeless by floods that are the region's worst in 15 years.

CRAMMED HIGHWAYS: Bihar's relief minister, Ram Vichar Rai, said the state had deployed more than 2,500 boats to join army efforts to rescue people after 280,000 thatched huts collapsed. Standing crops worth 150 million rupees (3.2 million dollars) have been destroyed.

"We still have not been able to open up relief centres and health camps in 16 flood-hit districts because the water levels are high," Mr Rai told reporters.

India's federal railway minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav, joined his wife Rabri Devi, the chief minister of Bihar, to promise free grain for flood victims until the next cropping season.

Indian Air Force officials said ten helicopters had dropped more than 240 tons of food packets and rescued more than 340 people, including 60 women students of a medical college.

50 MISSING in BD: In Bangladesh, the death toll rose by 14 to 124, including 50 people missing since Wednesday and presumed dead.

"We don't expect to get the missing people back. It is not possible to survive in such terrific torrents," said villager Moinul Hasan.

Officials said about 10,000 more joined the ranks of homeless and 200,000 were marooned in nine districts. Homeless people took their cattle as they jammed highways and higher ground across the country to escape the floodwaters.

CONTRASTS: The turmoil underlined the contrasts in conditions across the vast Sub-continent.

While southern Nepal reeled under floods, people in the north prayed for rains to save them from severe drought.

In India, a delay in the arrival of the June-September monsoon rains in the north worried officials who said the farm-dependent economy had received less rain than usual.

But rain is wreaking havoc across all of Asia.

In Afghanistan, floods unleashed by torrential rain have killed eight people and washed away scores of homes, inundating acres of farmland and miles of roads, besides killing 500 livestock, an official of the Red Crescent Society said.

Torrential rains in the past week in parts of northern Japan have claimed 14 lives and forced thousands to evacuate the region where swollen rivers have burst their banks. Thousands more are trapped in their homes, awaiting rescue.

In South Korea, six people died and one was missing after downpours in the central region flooded houses and rice fields. Television showed swollen rivers overflowing banks to sweep away apple orchards and homes.

In China, state television said 6,000 people had to evacuate their homes in a major wheat-growing area after a rainstorm dumped more than 43cms of water on the central province of Henan.

No injuries or deaths were reported, but 64,000 people had been affected, and some 100,000 soldiers and residents were scrambling to brace against the torrents, after rain lashed the area for several days, it said. -Reuters