2,000 feared dead in India flood

Two thousand people are now feared dead in the floods caused after a river changed course, submerging hundreds of villages in northern India and sparking claims that the Indian government is playing down the scale of the tragedy.

Although the official death toll in India's Bihar state is just 65, aid agencies claim thousands are missing in the flooded area. The Kosi river breached its banks 11 days ago on the border with Nepal, flowing through a channel 75 miles (120km) east of its natural route.ActionAid's emergencies adviser for Asia, Dr PV Unnikrishnan, said that by omitting those feared dead the authorities could 'underplay' the need for massive relief operations in the area."By not counting those gone missing, the government estimates not only result in inadequate compensation and rehabilitation processes, but also underplay the need for rescue and relief," said Unnikrishnan. India's Disaster Management Division said more than 2.6 million people in 16 districts have been affected by the flooding.

A spokesperson for Britain's Department For International Development in Delhi said, although the Indian monsoon saw heavy rains every year, this summer it devastated an area that had historically never been under water."Last year 20 million people were affected. This year it's far less but they are in a region that does not have the capacity to deal with floodwaters like this," said the spokesperson.Television pictures from the region showed a woman crying and waving at her husband, who could not find a place in a boat that was evacuating villagers. Another sequence showed a man in tears as he looked in vain for the rest of his family in a camp.One major worry is about the loss of agricultural output. Bihar is the least urbanised state in India and more than 70% of its 90 million people rely on the land. The government says almost 101,200 hectares (250,000 acres) of farmland is now under water, destroying precious wheat and rice stocks.Yesterday, the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, announced a £115m relief package and released 125,000 tonnes of emergency grain stocks. Officials in Bihar say large parts of the state are completely cut-off and aid agencies say there is a shortage of boats.Although 400,000 have been moved to relief camps, ActionAid says people have been forced to drink unsafe water. There are concerns about the spread of diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases.

Although the Indian army has been drafted to airlift stranded villagers, many aid agencies complained that relief efforts were inadequate. "The camps are not organised yet and we are receiving reports of diseases," said Mukesh Puri of Unicef told Reuters.