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DHAKA, July 31: Fears of an epidemic stalked flood-hit regions of South Asia on Saturday, with thousands of sick people flocking hospitals as rivers receded.
Officials said nearly 7,000 people reported at hospitals with diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases on Friday in Bangladesh, which has been worst hit by this year's monsoon flooding in the Sub-continent that has claimed about 1,300 lives in the last one month.
"Never before had I seen such devastation, especially in terms of scarcity of drinking water and dry food," said Ferdousi Begum in Dhaka's Bashabo area, which is under filthy, waist-deep water.
Residents said the water was filled with garbage, dead poultry and rodents. "I found it impossible to live there. So I fled the area with my only son," Begum said.
Zamirul Haq, another Dhaka resident, said life had become a constant struggle.
"The stink and filth have made breathing difficult," Haq said. "Only Allah knows when he would relieve us from this."
Officials said the flood situation was likely to improve across Bangladesh over the next one week before another spell of heavy rain is forecast to lash the country.
Hospitals and temporary medical centres in flood-ravaged districts said they had treated more than 100,000 patients over the last three weeks, but most deaths due to diarrhoea took place in remote areas that remained cut off by road and rail.
Doctors at Dhaka's International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research said they had treated about 10,000 patients in the past week and on an average about 500 new patients were being admitted everyday.
"With the recession of floods we are expecting more patients," said Shahadat Hossain, a doctor at the centre.
HUNGER AND DISEASE: Most of the deaths in Bangladesh, and across the border in the Indian states of Assam and Bihar, have been caused by snakebites, disease, house collapses and drowning.
Sixteen new deaths were reported from across Bangladesh in the last 24 hours, raising the toll in the country to 560, authorities said.
Authorities in Assam said they had put the healthcare system on alert and were stocking up medicines to prevent the outbreak of an epidemic in the state.
They said flood waters in most rivers across the state were receding after the worst flooding in 15 years killed about 222 people and left 12 million homeless.
The disaster has also caused billions of dollars of damage as it destroyed bridges, homes, roads, rail lines, communication links and businesses.
In Dhaka, where an estimated 2.5 million people have been stranded by the flooding, temporary shelters are overflowing with people, rife with hunger and disease.
Some victims said they wait almost an entire day, often standing in filthy flood waters, hoping to grab their share of meagre foodgrains and money offered by government officials and private agencies.
Many go back disappointed as supplies run out quickly.
"I am in the shelter for a week now but have received nothing," said 60-year-old Amiran Bibi. "I don't need rice or money. Please give me some dry or cooked food and some water for survival. Never in my life had I suffered so much." -Reuters
