Bihar seeks more soldiers to help flood victims

A woman with her daughter are rescued from floodwaters by an Indian Air Force helicopter yesterday in the flood-affected area of Darbhanga, in Bihar. The eastern Indian state of Bihar sent an SOS message to the federal government seeking more help from the army to rescue millions of people trapped in devastating floods. PHOTO: AFP

At least nine people drowned overnight, taking the death toll to 41 in the past 24 hours as 1.7 million more people were hit by the floods caused by annual monsoon rains, an official statement said.

One newspaper, however, put the death toll from flooding in Bihar, one of India's poorest states, at 219.

Over 10 million people in 16 flood-hit districts have been either displaced or trapped by the floods in Bihar, according to official figures.

A further five million people have been hit in India's northeastern Assam state and four million in neighbouring Bangladesh, according to officials.

Bihar's state government sent a message to the federal government in New Delhi seeking more military aid in relief efforts, state chief secretary K.A.H. Subramanian said.

National Minister of Water Resources Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said the government was "addressing the crisis with all seriousness."

Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi asked for 10 billion rupees (210 million dollars) from the National Calamity Fund to tackle the crisis.

Some 300 army personnel fanned out across vast tracts of flooded land in boats to rescue trapped villagers in Bihar while at least 10 helicopters dropped packets of food and essential commodities.

In addition, more than 2,500 government and private boats were being used.

Across the region, tens of thousands of people have taken shelter on raised bamboo stilts and on mud embankments, some even on rooftops of their mud-and-straw huts, waiting to be rescued, officials said.