Bangladesh continues to reel under flood fury, toll at 192

Dhaka, Aug 8 (UNI) As many as 28 more people succumbed to the devastating floods in Bangladesh, taking the death toll in the current spell of calamity to 192, officials said.

The officials said major rivers had started receding, but were still flowing above their respective danger levels, as almost half of the riverine nation continued to be swamped by flood waters.

Small rivers surrounding the national capital and its adjacent industrial town Narayanganj recorded both rise and fall in the last 24 hours. Water level in all the five rivers surrounding these areas was expected to fall in the next few days, officials added.

A statistics of the Food and Disaster management Ministry said some 9.6 million people were affected by the ongoing flood that hit 38 out of 64 districts since late July.

Some 3,73,939 people have taken shelter in 1,601 flood shelter centres where dearth of food, pure water and medicines were reported by local media.

A UNICEF official said it is a big task to provide relief to 100,000 people in remote areas due to bad communications. The government today held a meeting with donor countries and agencies and informed them about the scale of devastation in various sectors including agriculture and infrastructure.

After the meeting, World Bank Country Director Xian Zhu told reporters that they would extend assistance to the post-flood rehabilitation programme after knowing the government's final estimation of damages.

Sources revealed the World Bank predicted a crisis in economic management resulting in the GDP target declining by 0.2 per cent to 6.8 per cent during the current fiscal year. It also feared widening of the country's budget deficit and rising inflation as an impact to the flood.

Meanwhile, United Nation Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep sadness as monsoon floods killed hundreds of people and affected tens of millions in South Asia, including Bangladesh, and reaffirmed his readiness to help the victims.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) are concerned about the spread of water-borne diseases, viral fever and skin infections, and are providing emergency medical kits and other supplies in the affected areas.

The officials warned that the situation could worsen in the coming days.

UNI