South Asia flood victims plead for food, safe water

PATNA, India (Reuters) - Hungry villagers pleaded with authorities to rescue them from flooded homes in eastern India on Monday, as devastating floods continued to haunt millions in South Asia.

"We want to be evacuated, but no boats have come to take us away to relief camps," Ravindra Yadav, a villager in flood-hit Madhepura district said by telephone. "We are hungry, we are dying."

The government said they will try to evacuate as many as possible within the next two day, but those still stranded were few.

About 20,000 villagers have refused to leave their homes, saying they wanted to protect their belongings, officials said.

"(The evacuation) drive will continue as per the requirement only," said Nitish Mishra, the disaster management minister.

Aid agencies say there are still a few thousand people who have no means to survive on their own anymore.

"We are waiting for the last three days to leave, but there are no boats to save my family," said flood victim Badri Sharma, who built a bamboo raft to flee, but which proved not good enough to negotiate the swift river current.

Flood waters in the eastern state of Bihar have been receding over the past week in some areas, exposing bloated bodies and rotting carcasses caught in bamboo groves and bushes.

The floods have forced more than three million people from their homes in Bihar, destroyed 100,000 ha (250,000 acres) of farmland and killed at least 90 people.

The Kosi river, which originates in Nepal, burst a dam last month and unleashed the worst flooding in Bihar in 50 years.

Last week, authorities airdropped leaflets to villagers appealing for thousands of people remaining in their homes to evacuate as heavy rains risked more flooding.

The government has evacuated over 900,000 people already, but there are still thousands who want to be evacuated.

Aid agencies say those marooned would probably die of hunger.

"Only God knows what will happen to thousands of villagers still trapped in their homes and waiting to be rescued," said Bhagwanji Pathak, chairman of a local NGO working for the displaced villagers.

FORCED TO SCAVENGE

Families who fled to makeshift camps were forced to scavenge for scarce food in conditions that aid agencies warned would expose thousands to outbreaks of disease.

Others were naming their newborns after the river in remembrance of what was lost during the floods.

"One Kosi destroyed our life and house but this Kosi has brought new joy in our life", said Rubi, a first-time mother.

In the northeastern Indian state of Assam, also facing floods, at least 18 people have died and 1.3 million were affected when heavy rains caused the Brahmaputra river, one of the largest in Asia, to burst its banks.

State officials said the waters have been receding and there have been no outbreaks of water borne diseases.

In neighboring Bangladesh, flood waters continued to rise due to heavy rains resulting in acute shortages of drinking water and medicines, officials said.

The two-week old deluge swamped one third of the country's districts, displacing 200,000 people from their homes and affecting nearly four million.

(Additional reporting by Serajul Islam Quadir in Dhaka and Biswajyoti Das in Guwahati; Writing by Melanie Lee; Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Jerry Norton)