August 4, 2004
Bangladesh will need food aid for 20 million people, a seventh of its population, over the next five months because of flooding that has destroyed crops and jobs, the country's disaster management minister said yesterday.
The worst monsoon rains and flooding for six years have covered 60% of the country, said Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusouf. The death toll rose to 628 yesterday, with 39 more reported dead, nine from diarrhoea, a spokesman at the ministry said.The floods have disrupted Bangladesh's $4bn (£2.2bn) textile industry, which earns nearly 80% of the country's export earnings. The overall flood damage could total $6.7bn.
The UN world food programme said it was supplying food to nearly 2 million people and planned an emergency operation for millions more with help from other donor agencies.
Douglas Casson Coutts, the WFP's representative in Dhaka, said further flooding was likely in the coming weeks as fresh rains would be unable to drain into the waterlogged ground.
Unicef launched an appeal yesterday to raise $134m to save tens of thousands of lives. "Bangladeshi children urgently needed attention to save them from the worst ravages of the floods," it said. Diarrhoea, dysentery and typhoid have affected more than 100,000 people and killed at least 60 of them, mostly children, government officials have said.
