More than 800 Killed, Million Displaced in South Asia Flooding

Hundreds have been killed and over a million displaced in flooding in South Asia. (AFP)
Hundreds have been killed and over a million displaced in flooding in South Asia. (AFP)
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More than 800 Killed, Million Displaced in South Asia Flooding

Hundreds have been killed and over a million displaced in flooding in South Asia. (AFP)
Hundreds have been killed and over a million displaced in flooding in South Asia. (AFP)

Floods in South Asia have left more than 800 people dead and over a million displaced in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Seasonal monsoon rains, a lifeline for farmers across South Asia, typically cause loss of life and property every year between July and September, but officials say this year's flooding is the worst in several years.

Aid workers warned of severe food shortages and water-borne diseases as rains continue to lash the affected areas. Some 10,000 emergency workers and soldiers were supporting Indian officials in relief and rescue operations.

At least 115 people have died and more than 5.7 million are affected in Bangladesh as floods submerged more than a third of the low-lying and densely populated country.

"The water level has gradually dropped. The flood situation will improve if it does not rain upstream any further," Sazzad Hossain, executive engineer of Bangladesh's Flood Forecasting and Warning Center, told Reuters.

Reaz Ahmed, the director general of Bangladesh's Disaster Management Department, said there are rising concerns about food shortages and the spread of disease.

"With the flood waters receding, there is a possibility of an epidemic. We fear the outbreak of water-borne diseases if clean water is not ensured soon," Ahmed told Reuters.

With some rivers running above danger levels, 225 bridges have been damaged in Bangladesh, disrupting food and medicine supplies to people displaced from their homes, said aid workers.

In the Indian state of Assam bordering Bangladesh, at least 180 people have been killed in the past few weeks.

"With the floods washing away everything... there is not even a trace of our small thatched hut," said Lakshmi Das, a mother of three, living in Kaliabor, Assam.

"We do not even have a second pair of clothes to wear. The government is not providing any aid."

Torrential rains have also hit the northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur, killing at least 30 people.

Flood waters of the Brahmaputra river had earlier in July submerged the Kaziranga wildlife sanctuary in Assam. The floods have since killed more than 350 animals, including 24 endangered one-horned rhinoceros, five elephants and a tiger.

Meanwhile, in the eastern state of Bihar, at least 253 people lost their lives where incessant rains washed away crops, destroyed roads and disrupted power supplies.

A senior official in Bihar's disaster management department, Anirudh Kumar, said nearly half a million people have been provided with shelter.

In Nepal, 141 people were confirmed dead, while thousands of survivors returned to their semi-destroyed homes.

"Their homes are in a state of total destruction," said Francis Markus from International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The United Nations has called this the worst floods to hit the country for 15 years.

Nearly 400,000 people were staying in state-run shelters, with an estimated 10 million affected by the deluge, the worst since 2008 when nearly 300 people were killed.

Every year hundreds die in landslides and floods during the monsoon season that hits India's southern tip in early June and sweeps across South Asia for four months.

A massive landslide in India's Himachal Pradesh state swept two passenger buses off a hillside, killing 46 people on August 13.

Eight others, including two soldiers, were killed in Uttarakhand state in landslides on Monday.

Nearly 350 people died in the first wave of floods that began in mid-July in India's western states of Gujarat and Rajasthan and several remote northeastern states.



Nuclear Watchdog Chief Says Room to Maneuver on Iran 'Shrinking'

Rafael Grossi, chief of the IAEA, spoke to AFP on the sidelines of the UN climate summit COP29 - AFP
Rafael Grossi, chief of the IAEA, spoke to AFP on the sidelines of the UN climate summit COP29 - AFP
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Nuclear Watchdog Chief Says Room to Maneuver on Iran 'Shrinking'

Rafael Grossi, chief of the IAEA, spoke to AFP on the sidelines of the UN climate summit COP29 - AFP
Rafael Grossi, chief of the IAEA, spoke to AFP on the sidelines of the UN climate summit COP29 - AFP

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog warned Tuesday that "the margins for maneuver are beginning to shrink" on Iran's nuclear program ahead of an important trip to Tehran.

"The Iranian administration must understand that the international situation is becoming increasingly tense and that the margins to maneuver are beginning to shrink, and that it is imperative to find ways to reach diplomatic solutions," Rafael Grossi, told AFP in an interview at the COP29 climate summit in Baku.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is allowed to carry out inspections in Iran, he said, but "we need to see more. Given the size, depth and ambition of Iran's program, we need to find ways of giving the agency more visibility."

His visit comes after Donald Trump -- who pulled out of a hard-won nuclear deal with Iran negotiated under Barack Obama -- has been voted back into the White House.

"I already worked with the first Trump administration and we worked well together," the IAEA chief insisted.

To the dismay of many of its allies, Washington pulled out of the agreement in 2018. The deal was supposed to dismantle much of Iran's nuclear program and open it up to greater inspection in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

- Tehran 'open' to talks -

All attempts to revive the 2015 accord -- signed with the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- have since failed.

"It's an empty shell," Grossi admitted.

Since then the Iranian nuclear program has continued to expand, even if Tehran denies it has a nuclear bomb.

The Islamic Republic has greatly increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 per cent, according to the IAEA, close to the 90 percent needed to make an atomic weapon.

But since the new reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian took office in August, Tehran has indicated that it would be open to talks to resurrect the agreement.

Grossi's last visit to Iran was in May when he went to Isfahan province, home to the Natanz uranium enrichment plant.

He then urged Iran's leaders to adopt "concrete" measures to address concerns over its nuclear program and to increase cooperation with inspectors.