Food air drops resume after riots
13/08/2007 13:41 - (SA)
New Delhi - India said it will resume air drops of food and other aid to flood victims in northern India on Monday, following violent riots over a lack of assistance.
Devastating monsoon floods have laid waste to much of northern India and Bangladesh in recent weeks, killing more than 2 000 people and displacing millions. At least 34 more deaths were reported on Monday in India.
Meanwhile, the United Nations warned that Bangladesh could face acute food shortages as the floods destroyed hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops.
In the northern Indian state of Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered government relief agencies to continue air drops of assistance to the worst-hit areas.
The decision was prompted by violent riots in the town of Sonebarsa, where police killed one person and wounded four after hundreds of people ransacked a local relief office to protest the lack of aid.
The government had earlier said it would end the air drops because land routes had been re-established to most of the flood-hit areas.
Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme chief in Bangladesh, Douglas Broderick, said he feared the country could face a food crisis.
"We are quite concerned over the significant damage to crops in the flood-affected areas," he told reporters late on Sunday.
According to Bangladesh's government, this year's monsoon floods destroyed crops on more than 242 800 hectares of land.
Broderick said the WFP initially planned to distribute 1 500-2 000 tons of rice among the victims, and that as "needs increase, we would also increase the distribution".
While most of the flood waters have subsided, thousands of people were still being treated across India and Bangladesh for diseases that affect people who drink from stagnant pools left behind by floodwaters, or from wells contaminated by waste that gets washed into them.
More than 43 000 people were being treated for diarrhoea in Bangladesh, said government health adviser Matiur Rahman.
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