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| Saturday, 17 July 2004 |
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Army called out as B'desh floods worsen DHAKA,Friday (AFP,UNI) The army was called out to help fortify earth dams in northwest Bangladesh, official media said as the flood situation worsened and up to four million people remained stranded across the country. Official estimates said millions of people were either marooned in inundated villages or had fled to higher ground following the flooding that began at the weekend and which has submerged large parts of the country. Many have no shelter, no access to fresh water, and little, if any, food. Troops from the army's engineering corps were deployed Thursday in northwestern Bogra district, 136 kilometres (85 miles) from the capital Dhaka, to fortify earth embankments, the official BSS news agency said. Earlier a dam in the Dhunat sub-district was breached unleashing a torrent which swept through villages leaving five dead and 60 missing, reports said. Four young children died after water from the powerful Jamuna river broke through an embankment, BSS said although it was not able to confirm the fifth death or the number of missing. Thousands of people from villages that were completely inundated by the torrent were camping on a nearby road late Thursday. The road is on high ground having been raised following previous flooding in the area. Meanwhile floods continued to wreak havoc in Bihar and Assam with the toll mounting to 115 today, even as the situation improved in North Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh. In Bihar, where the toll jumped to 64, fresh breaches were reported in river embankments, while an Army chopper supplying relief materials met with an accident in Darbhanga. Three more deaths were reported from Sitamarhi while two from Sheohar districts during the past 24 hours. An Army chopper carrying relief materials today hit a tree in the campus of the Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital and was grounded. Nearly ten million people were reeling under the swirling flood waters in 17 distircts, official soures said adding fresh areas were inundated in Samastipur and Muzaffarpur districts. |
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