Flood-hit B'desh rushes in relief as curfew eases

DHAKA, Aug 25 (Reuters) Bangladesh health and relief workers went to flood-hit areas after authorities relaxed a curfew in six cities including the capital, officials said today.

The interim government relaxed the curfew from 6 am (0530 hrs IST) to 11 pm (2230 hrs IST), the home ministry said.

Widespread violence triggered by student unrest prompted officials to impose the curfew in six cities on Wednesday. But the clampdown on dissent severely disrupted the movement of health workers and supplies to flood-hit areas, disaster management officials said.

This had led to a jump in the number of people with diarrhoea and over the past 24 hours about 4,000 people contracted the illness.

Relaxing the curfew allowed the sick the chance to get to hospital.

''The number of diarrhoea patients, admitted in different hospitals mainly in the city hospitals has increased today after the curfew was relaxed,'' Mohammad Syeed Hossain, a health official told Reuters.

About 135,000 people have been affected by diarrhoea and other water-borne illnesses, including respiratory problems and skin diseases, since July, Hossain said.

The relief distribution across the country has geared up again as supplies resumed from major cities, officials and witnesses from different centres said over telephone.

The overall flood situation across the country improved further today, though two major rivers, the Padma and Jamuna, were still flowing above their danger levels, officials of the flood forecasting and warning centre said.

Close to 1,900 people have died from drowning, house collapses, snakebites and waterborne diseases in the densely populated and largely impoverished South Asia region since July, as heavy monsoon rains caused numerous rivers to burst their banks.

Among them are 692 casualties in Bangladesh, including 14 in past 24 hours, officials said.

REUTERS RAR PM1620