At least 800 people have been killed in monsoon-related accidents during the heavy June-to-September rains across India, with impoverished Bihar accounting for 24 deaths since August 23, according to a government spokesperson. Read more...

Heavy and incessant rainfall since June 16, 2008 has flooded many areas in the eastern states of Assam, Orissa and West Bengal leaving some 93 people dead and close to 2.7 million people affected. Read more...

The enormity of human deprivation among the vulnerable and destitute in India is overwhelming. A newly published paper describes the experience of living with hunger as recounted by persons from intensely insecure social groups from eight villages in Orissa, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. The research study on hunger is written by Harsh Mander, convenor of Aman Biradari, a people’s campaign for secular democracy in India. The study is funded by DanChurchAid in India. Read more...

“The memory is still very painful to me,” G. Raju recounts in a faltering vice. Yet, there was nothing he could do. The flood waves were six or seven meters high and he could not reach his house and his family. He still vividly remembers the horrible scenes of devastation the tsunami left in its wake three years ago as it swept through his coastal village in southern India. Read more...

The monsoon rains have stopped in the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa with the onset of winter. The last rain spell was in the first week of October 2007. The flood waters have receded (except in some pockets of very low-lying areas) and people have gone back to their villages. Some people are living under polythene sheets distributed by NGOs and the government where traditional mud homes were damaged and destroyed. Read more...

Heavy and continuous rainfall over the past five days has caused widespread flooding and the deaths of at least 13 people in the state of Tamil Nadu. The rains, also affecting the state of Andhra Pradesh, were caused by a low pressure center over the south-eastern bay off Chennai along with the north-east monsoon. Read more...

In West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar the monsoon rains continue. A depression that formed over the Bay of Bengal caused heavy rains from September 23 to 24, 2007 in several areas. The continuous downpour led to a rise in water level in all major river systems in the region. Calcutta was submerged under heavy waterlogging and received 44.0 cm (17.3 inches) of rain. The whole city was flooded with up to 1.5 metres (4.92 feet) of water in some areas. Read more...

Some of the largest floods ever have hit parts of India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Across South Asia, DanChurchAid has been providing essential water equipment and temporary shelters for people who have lost their homes to flooding.

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RDRS Bangladesh has provided food relief worth over taka 18 million (equivalent to USD 261,500) to about 30,400 flood-affected people in Kurigram and Lalmonirhat Districts. Read more...

The floods in South Asia have hit Bangladesh with enormous force, and there is an acute need for just about everything, such as food, seed grain and reconstruction, DanChurchAid representative reports from Dhaka. Read more...