South Asian flood victims fight for food by Ioana Madalina Tantareanu

Monday, in Patna, India, at least 35 boat passengers were feared drowned, after the events that followed South Asia'a devastating floods. The boat that carried about 100 people overturned at about o hour away from Patna, according to district administrator Sashank Shekhar Singh. "We are looking for survivors. There is a heavy current in the river and we are facing great difficulties. It's very dark, there are no lights and more forces are rushing from Patna," Singh declared. The floods, which are seen as a symptom of the climate change affected 35 million people in the region, and 455 were killed in India, Bangladesh and Nepal alone. a teenager drowned in Bihar as he went for food dropped by helicopter, women and children clashed over small packets of biscuits being handed out by a local aid organisation, while villagers in another part of the stated looted a trector full of grain. "We are surviving on snails as we have nothing to eat", "The waters have taken everything from me except five cows and some chickens". these are only two examples of how bad the situation is getting down there. Besides the shortage of food, the danger of epidemics hangs over the victim's heads. UNICEF said it was starting to see early reports of diarrhoea while Marzio Babille, who is coordinating the U.N. response to the Bihar flooding, said he was also worried about diseases such as measles in a state where only a third of children are fully vaccinated and nearly two-thirds are malnourished. In Bangladesh 36 more people were drowned or killed by snakebites overnight, taking the confirmed death toll from more than two weeks of deluge to 156, while in Nepal around 60 people have died in the last couple of weeks.

by Ioana Madalina Tantareanu for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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