August 09, 2007	Thursday	Rajab 24, 1428

DARBHANGA (India): Sribhagwan Manjhi has taken to counting the dead bodies that float down the river since raging waters swollen by the monsoon swallowed his bamboo home in India’s Bihar state.

This week, he said he had counted 10 corpses.

“Often I miss some,” Manjhi admitted from his observation point in Begusarai district, one of the 19 of impoverished Bihar’s 38 districts submerged by the worst flooding in 30 years.

Manjhi’s macabre hobby points to the serious problem of disposing of dead bodies, which for Hindus normally involves cremation.

Survivors said they were searching for dry timber to cremate the dead from the myriad villages and hamlets completely washed away by the six rivers criss-crossing this eastern region.

Nearby Darbhanga district has a sizeable Muslim population and thus an even bigger problem, as most traditional graveyards are under several feet of water.

“It is a very tricky situation as we can’t just bury our dead anywhere,” said Afzal, one of the many stranded Muslims, who gave only one name.

District administrator Upendra Sharma confirmed that graveyards were flooded in Darbhanga, where 2.2 million people have been displaced.

“Many graveyards are under water but we will help people to find burial places,” Sharma said, as local people pointed out that recently buried bodies were floating to the surface in several cemeteries.

“We do not have such reports but I will look into it,” the harried official said, noting he had to focus first on the supply of drinking water and food to tens of thousands of people facing starvation.

Although Bihar’s rivers are now receding after three days without rain, only raised roads and clusters of tree-tops stand out above the floodwaters in Darbhanga.

“The (dead body) issue needs to be addressed urgently because after the rivers recede rotting corpses will compound the already-existing risk to general health,” said Alok Verma, a volunteer expert at a first-aid centre.

In Samastipur district, where a spate of boat accidents this week left more than 65 dead, villagers said sodden wood was causing anguish for bereaved Hindu families who could not get funeral pyres to light.

“We had to scavenge timber from an overturned truck for a cremation,” said Lagan Ram in Samastipur, where 1.4 million people are stranded and around 587 villages inundated.

Sharawan Kumar, the district magistrate, said the authorities were concerned only with flood-related deaths.

“All flood-related deaths are already being brought here for autopsies but others dying of natural causes can be brought to the town which is not submerged and we will provide the facilities,” Kumar said.

“Besides, entire areas are not under water and relatives can seek higher ground for burial or cremation purposes.

“Also, if there’s large-scale shortage of dry timber then the administration will come out and help families of the deceased,” the official told the news agency by telephone.

The annual monsoon has caused massive flooding and left a trail of destruction from Nepal through India to Bangladesh, killing around 1,900 people since June.—AFP