PATNA, India (Reuters) - The Indian army and navy stepped up efforts on Monday to rescue hundreds of thousands of people marooned by floods, while rising river levels also rang alarm bells in neighbouring Bangladesh.
In India's impoverished eastern state of Bihar, villagershave been living on rooftops for days, while others are eatingplants and leaves after exhausting food stocks.
Aid agencies said the Bihar government should have donemore to anticipate the disaster and plan relief operations in aregion hit by monsoon flooding every year.
"Lessons from the past disasters should be kept in mindwhile planning response," ActionAid said in a statement. "Along-term comprehensive response is necessary to deal withrelief, recovery and disaster preparedness."
Three million people have been displaced from their homesand at least 90 killed by floods in Bihar, officials say, afterthe Kosi river burst a dam in Nepal, swamping hundreds ofvillages in Bihar and destroying 100,000 ha (250,000 acres) offarmlands.
Since the monsoon began in South Asia in June, more than1,000 people have died in floods, with most of the casualtiesrecorded in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh in July.
In Bihar, hundreds of boats are being used to evacuatepeople but more are needed, while heavy rains over the past fewdays have hampered rescue and relief operations, officialssaid.
"Such is the extent of devastation that the forces deployedare proving too small," Pratyay Amrit, a senior state disastermanagement official, said on Monday.
The army, which had already deployed five columns of around120 men, sent in another 14, officials said on Monday, whilethree naval companies were also asked to help.
The situation on the ground is getting desperate.
"We don't have any more food grain stocks left, and me andmy family are all chewing plants and leaves to stay alive,"Mohan Sharma said by telephone from Supaul district.
Television pictures showed people fighting to get places inboats, as soldiers in life jackets tried to restore order.
Over 467,000 people have been evacuated so far, but thereare thousands still marooned. Activists and local media say thedeath toll could be many times higher than official estimates.
Some experts have blamed the floods on heavier monsoonrains caused by global warming, while others say authoritieshave failed to take preventive measures and improveinfrastructure.
RISING RIVERS
In India's northeastern state of Assam, rising rivers brokemud embankments and swamped more than 100 villages, forcing50,000 people from their homes.
Two people drowned overnight, raising the death toll in thenortheast region to 34.
Authorities said at least 400,000 people were living inknee-deep water in villages along the border with Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh, about half a million people were maroonedafter several rivers in the north and central districts broketheir banks and swamped villages and farmlands.
The Flood Forecasting Centre warned the flood situationcould worsen in the next couple of days as the country's threemajor rivers were rising alarmingly.
Many schools were closed and turned into relief camps.
(Additional reporting by Biswajyoti Das in Guwahati andRuma Paul in Dhaka; Writing by Bappa Majumdar; Editing by SimonDenyer)
