48 killed in floods in eastern India

Today, rescuers resumed their search for villagers after downpours caused a landslide in remote northeastern Manipur, where an official said four bodies have been recovered from a hamlet buried by a collapsed hill.

Cyclone Komen from the Bay of Bengal has brought heavy rains to West Bengal and Odisha, submerging hundreds of villages and making tens of thousands homeless. So far, we have witnessed man-made floods and we have restricted them quite successfully.

Torrential rains and subsequent landslides likewise killed at least 36 people in Nepal and 17 people in Vietnam, which is experiencing the worst flooding in 40 years.

The United Nations has warned that casualties are likely to increase since rescue teams have yet to reach some of the worst-hit areas.

Myanmar President Thein Sein declared natural disaster zones in Rakhine and three other areas on Friday.

Around 200,000 people have been shifted to relief camps in districts such as Burdwan, Hoogly, Howrah and North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, and plastic sheets and dry food rations have been dispatched to survivors, one official said.

An Indian hand rickshaw puller makes his way through a flooded street in Kolkata, India, Sunday, August 2, 2015.

Poor infrastructure and limited search and rescue capabilities routinely hamper relief efforts across the region, more so as roads, phone lines and electricity are knocked out by rising waters.

A report issued Saturday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Myanmar disaster officials estimated that more than 156,000 people had been affected by flooding.

India receives 80% of its annual rainfall during the monsoon between June and September.

Dozens have also perished in Nepal and Vietnam following floods and landslides.