SOUTH ASIA Death toll from floods keeps rising

People are plagued with diarrhea and snakebites.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) -- Deaths from monsoon rains across South Asia reached 1,238 today as Bangladesh remained awash in the worst floods in six years, and waterborne diseases began taking their toll.
Diarrhea caused by drinking dirty water has killed 46 people and afflicted about 80,000 this month, according to the government's Health Directorate. Relief workers warned that the situation could worsen as rivers around Bangladesh's inundated capital, Dhaka, continued to swell.
Bad weather
The annual monsoon flooding, fed by melting snow and torrential rains, has left millions across South Asia marooned or homeless. At least 731 people have died in India, 102 in Nepal and five in Pakistan, according to reports from officials, compiled by The Associated Press.
The Bangladesh government said today that 400 people had died since June in the worst floods since 1998. They have engulfed two-thirds of the country, affecting more than 25 million people. Up to 1.3 million displaced people huddled in about 4,000 flood shelters. Villagers have pitched tents on highways or mud embankments with their families and cattle.
"The situation in Dhaka and central Bangladesh will not improve until next week," the Flood Forecast and Warning Center said today.
Last year, 1,500 people died across South Asia during the monsoons, which lasted from mid-June to mid-October.
Deaths are caused by drowning, landslides, house collapses, lightning, diseases and poisonous snakes that slither through the water and bite people wading through the water to reach higher ground.
Dealing with bites
In India's northeastern state of Assam, almost entirely covered by water, the government asked the Red Cross and other relief groups to provide anti-venom for snakebite victims as well as rehydration salts for diarrhea sufferers.
"Along with disease and its prevention, we are battling snakebites," said Bumidhar Barman, the health minister of Assam, where another 45 deaths were reported today. "Snakes, swept by the flood waters from rivers and marshes, seem to be lurking around in large numbers, keeping the marooned people on tenterhooks."
Some 12 million people are affected in Assam, where floods have caused $1.08 billion in damage, said the state's Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
In Dhaka, a city of 10 million people, shantytowns in low-lying areas, residential neighborhoods and parts of the central business district have been inundated. Holding their belongings over their heads, Dhaka residents waded through the waist-deep waters, which had mixed with sewage and turned blackish and foul-smelling.
About 500 to 600 patients -- mostly children -- are admitted to clinics each day for diseases related to diarrhea in Dhaka, doctors said. Many children also suffer from fever, coughs and rashes.