Dhaka — Volunteers tried to deliver food and medicine to tens of millions of people Friday as water-borne illness spread through flood-plagued Bangladesh even as waters receded, the government said.
The death toll throughout South Asia from landslides, drowning, collapsing houses, disease and other perils linked to monsoon rains stood Friday at 1,359. It was expected to surpass last year's 1,500 deaths for the annual monsoon, running from mid-June to mid-October.
Bangladesh's death toll was at least 473.
Diarrhea, dysentery and typhoid, caused by drinking dirty flood waters, afflicted an additional 7,500 people on Thursday, the government's Health Directorate said.
Water-borne disease has sickened nearly 90,000 people, it said, and caused at least 58 of the 473 deaths.
Rivers that swamped much of Dhaka, the capital city of 10 million people, showed signs of receding for the first time in two weeks Friday. However, many of the country's 250 rivers were still above flood level, and drainage into the Bay of Bengal has been slow because of high tides, the government said.
The government has said it cannot cope alone with the disaster.
Flooding and related problems have killed 768 people in India, 113 in Nepal and five in Pakistan, according to official reports compiled by Associated Press.
Aileen Carroll, Minister for International Co-operation announced Friday that Canada will provide $700,000 Canadian to the international relief effort.
“These funds will help those in need and help prevent the spread of disease,” Ms. Carroll said. “We are confident that the expertise and experience of the IFRC will ensure that Canada's contribution helps meet the needs of the people in the region and assists them in their recovery.”
On Thursday, the United States Agency for International Development said it will provide $210-million (U.S.) in aid for flood victims.
The European Commission offered the equivalent of $4.8-million Canadian aid, the Bangladesh government said Friday.
A United Nations team was due Friday in Dhaka to assess the extent of flood damage and needs before making a formal appeal for international aid.
The worst floods in six years have covered two-thirds of the impoverished nation as relief workers struggled to get supplies to nearly 30 million people stranded in their flooded homes, or crammed into temporary shelters in schools, on highways or river embankments.
Many students have joined relief work after the country's largest campus, Dhaka University, was shut down by the floods last week.
“We go door to door every day and request people to provide dry foods, or cash to buy food for the flood victims,” said Shaustika Podder, one of the volunteers.
The government has already distributed 36,000 tonnes of rice, biscuits, clothes and house-building materials such as tin sheets among 20 million people in 51 flood-hit districts.
