KATHMANDU: Monsoon mayhem in Nepal, India and Bangladesh has affected over 3.2 million children.
More than 150 people are known to have died and hundreds more remain missing and the death toll is likely to increase.
In India’s northeastern state of Assam, more than 4,000 villages are flooded. Major roads into and out of the state are blocked, making relief efforts challenging in particular. Some 4.3 million people, which is the tenth of the state’s total population, have been directly affected, including 1.72 million children. In northern Bihar state a further one million children are affected.
Bangladesh is also reeling from the first heavy rains of the monsoon season, with the northeastern part of the country bordering India the worst affected. Nearly one million people, including more than 400,000 children are among those directly impacted, with 17 out of the country’s 64 districts flooded.
In Nepal, an estimated 385,000 people including 155,000 children have been affected by a week-long heavy downpour leading to landslides and widespread flooding. Dozens of people have been killed and the death toll is expected to rise further. Children are particularly vulnerable to death, injury, disease, exploitation and abuse.
Ned Olney, Save the Children’s Nepal Country Director said, “Severe flooding and landslides have left tens of thousands of people homeless, many stranded outdoors, some cut off from the outside world. It’s absolutely essential that we reach these communities to avoid this turning into a health emergency. We are concerned about possible outbreaks of water-borne diseases like diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, Hepatitis A and E, particularly in areas where water sources have become contaminated by floodwaters.”
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