At least 192 people have died and more than 1.5 million been displaced by monsoon flooding across India and Nepal, officials said Tuesday, as rescuers scoured submerged villages for the missing, reports AFP from Nepal. In Nepal, severe flooding has left tens of thousands of homes totally underwater in the populous southern lowlands, with nearly 20 percent of the population affected.
"As per the data we have received so far, 111 have been killed, 35 are still missing and a search operation is underway," Home Minister Janardan Sharma told parliament Tuesday.
India has also suffered from torrential downpours and flash flooding, worsening a monsoon that has already claimed lives.
At least 81 people have died in the eastern states of Bihar and West Bengal, and northeastern Assam state, over the last few days, a government official told AFP on Tuesday.
Train services have been cut entirely to the northeast, and at least 200,000 people are living in emergency camps in Assam, a remote state that suffers frequent flooding during the annual rains. In Nepal, residents in hard-hit Saptari district blamed the government for failing to solve the seasonal floods and quickly send aid to those in need.
"Many have lost their homes. Families don't have food or shelter. We are just helping each other," said local resident Pankaj Mishra. "What we need is for the government to solve this problem. We have been suffering for decades every year. The river troubles us every year."
Kathmandu has been criticised for enacting a "one-door" policy requiring all aid for flood victims to flow through a government-run central disaster agency. The diktat threatens
See Page 15 Col 3