Large
areas are still under water
Heavy monsoon
rain is hampering relief efforts in north-eastern India, where
floods have made several million people homeless and many need
food and medical help.
The floods
have swept away river banks, roads and bridges, and many villagers
have been homeless for more than a week.
Some food
aid is getting through, but many survivors are reported to be
going down with fever and diarrhoea because of the lack of clean
drinking water and medicines.
Nearly 300
people have died in flash floods and landslides in India, Bhutan,
Bangladesh and Nepal.
With more
heavy rains forecast, there are fears the numbers could rise.
 People
are trying to salvage what they can
In more remote
districts the villagers are crowded along areas of high ground,
living in makeshift shelters covered with plastic sheeting.
In the state of Assam alone, 1.5 million people have been left
homeless.
Need for
medical aid
Emergency
medical centres have been set up. But the BBC's correspondent,
Jill McGivering, reports that in some areas of Assam, villagers
complained that they had not yet had access to government doctors,
treatment and medicines.
Some villagers
have been moved to government relief centres in schools and public
buildings, and Assam's Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta says funds
are being made available.
But other
officials complain of a lack of resources, such as boats to reach
stranded communities.
Many villagers
are reported to have been without food or medicine for nearly
a week.
The threat
of disease is a major concern now, with children and the elderly
particularly vulnerable. Malaria and diarrhoea spread easily when
large areas are submerged by dirty water.
Tube wells
have been provided, but local people complain the water quality
is poor.
 The
local infrastructure has been badly damaged
"There
is a scarcity of pure drinking water and I am feeding my children
with coconut water as a precaution to save them from water-borne
diseases," said flood victim Dilip Das.
Dr Kamala
Das, a doctor in Assam's Nalbari district, said wells and other
water sources were "filled with filth and slush, leading
to an outbreak of dysentery and stomach ailments".
She said hundreds
of children and elderly people were suffering from waterborne
diseases.
Aid workers
say get food and material aid to the affected people has to be
the priority.
The International
Red Cross says it will launch an appeal for funds on Friday.
With homes
and farmland devastated, rebuilding the region's infrastructure
is likely to be a long, slow process.
About 3,000
villages have been flooded in Assam alone, and the damage has
been made worse because of the simple, basic structure of many
houses.
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