Floods in India kill over 100 people

President Thein Sein declared four regions disaster areas on July 31, with estimates that more than 156,000 people across the country have been affected.

Rescuers in India were searching Sunday for 20 villagers feared killed in a landslide in remote northeast India, as the death toll from recent floods elsewhere in the country topped 100, officials said.

Thousands of others are already in camps for the displaced including in Kalay, Sagaing Region, where residents told of unusually powerful flood waters swamping homes in hours.

“We had evacuated about 2,000 people during the floods last week but all of them returned to their homes. Our house is still under water”, Htay Shein, 62, told AFP from a temporary shelter in Kalay.

More than 200 medical teams using 120 boats have reached the area.

Myanmar’s previous junta government was accused of callous indifference in its sluggish response to Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, which left almost 140,000 people dead or missing.

Landslides in Chin state – south of Sagaing – have destroyed 700 homes in the state capital Hakha, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar.

Devastating monsoon rains have led to hundreds of deaths across the Asian continent, with rising waters and landslides forcing locals and tourists alike to seek higher ground and safer shelter, the AFP reported Monday.

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

While officials say relief efforts remain in full swing, poor infrastructure and limited capabilities routinely hamper relief efforts in these countries.

The rains also caused a landslide in Manipur, killing 21 people. However, the rains and frequent powerful cyclones that usher them have repeatedly resulted in loss of life and property. West Bengal’s State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called in the army to support a few of the worst flood-hit areas where the death toll has climbed to almost 50.

However, the water level on all major rivers in Manipur is receding as rains stopped. According to a report, at least 90 people have been killed across Nepal in the past two months due to floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain. As indicated by Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority, 116 people have so far lost their lives due to floods in different parts of the country.