The Red Cross called Monday for "urgent international attention" to the plight of hundreds of thousands of flood victims in northeast India who have no access to adequate food or clean drinking water.
A seven-member delegation from the International Federation of the Red Cross, which has just completed an assessment tour of the devastated state of Assam, said huge numbers of villagers were risking serious illness by drinking contaminated water.
"There is a definite need for food supply to those who have lost all their crops and mode of livelihood, besides baby food for hundreds of infants who could be vulnerable," Red Cross worker Solveig Olasdottir told AFP.
"People are drinking flood waters which are contaminated and there is an urgent need for more tube wells, bleaching powders and purifying tablets to treat the water."
Describing the threat of water-borne disease as a matter "for serious concern," Olafsdottir said the Red Cross would be recommending the deployment of an expert medical team to help coordinate local relief operations.
"The situation in Assam warrants urgent international attention in the form of relief and financial aid," she added.
Flooding over the past month in Assam, as well as the states of Bihar and West Bengal and the neighboring countries of Bhutan and Bangladesh, have claimed around 250 lives and left up to five million homeless.
At least 20 people have died of water-borne disease in Assam in the past 10 days, fuelling fears of a possible epidemic.
The Red Cross has requested international assistance of 3.5 million dollars to provide flood victims with rice and cooking oil as well as water purification tablets, mosquito nets, clothing, blankets and tarpaulins.
"People are still fighting the floods and hoping the weather gods will smile on them," said Dilip Saikia, a state legislator from Dhemaji, one of the worst hit districts some 570 kilometers (360 miles) east of Guwahati.
"If there are no rains for another 48 hours, the situation will improve considerably," Saikia said.
The army was called in to rescue stranded villagers in Dhemaji on Sunday as fresh floods triggered by monsoon rains hit the area -- GUWAHATI, India (AFP)
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