Bangladesh monsoon death toll hits 50, thousands displaced

Flash floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains have killed at least 50 people in Bangladesh in the past week, officials said on Sunday, with tens of thousands displaced from their homes.

Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation crisscrossed by rivers, is highly vulnerable to floods and landslides during the monsoon season, but scientists say climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

For the last few days, army and border guard personnel have been ferrying food, drinking water and other essential supplies by boat to communities cut off because of heavy flooding in the country's southeastern districts.

As many as 50 people have died in the worst-affected Chattogram district in the past week, including 29 who were buried by landslides, divisional commissioner Mohammed Ziauddin told AFP by phone.

Drivers push their auto-rickshaws through a flooded street in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Reuters

"Two individuals are still missing," he said.

Some 35,000 people have been forced to seek shelter in government-run centers, he added.

Among those caught up in the disaster in Chattogram was Mohammed Forkan, whose family could not fulfil his wish to be buried beside his parents because the local cemetery was submerged under chest-deep water.

"We placed my uncle's body on a bamboo raft and swam alongside it in search of a piece of land that was not underwater," his nephew Nizam Uddin told AFP.

"Finally, we managed to bury him on government land and held a small funeral prayer."

Authorities have opened some 4,000 shelters for displaced residents as shortages of food and safe drinking water deepened the crisis.

Residents wade through floodwaters after heavy monsoon rains. AFP

Many people remain in desperate conditions, with their homes and kitchens submerged by floodwaters, residents said.

Last week, heavy rains triggered landslides in Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, killing 15 people.

More than 1.2 million refugees live in congested shelters on hillsides cleared of trees -- making the land unstable during monsoon rains.

Sarder Udoy Raihan of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre said Sunday the situation in southeastern districts was likely to improve soon.

"But the monsoon remains active over the northeastern and northern parts of Bangladesh, and there is a possibility of further inundation," he told AFP.

Agence France-Presse