Now, a flood of diseases in Assam

Over 70 people have been reported dead due to encephalitis while many others are stated to have been afflicted by water-borne diseases in the relief camps set up by the government and voluntary organisations.

Official reports in Guwahati said 25 people have lost their lives in the floods, while 56 have died of encephalitis. Over 25 lakh have been rendered homeless in the floods.

There has also been a shortage of food among the homeless despite government efforts to reach out to the interiors. Road communication is cut off to most districts.

Dhemaji has remained the worst hit district as it remained cut off from the rest of the world for over a month now. Deputy Commissioner B.R. Samal said his officers were working round the clock to provide succour to the affected people despite shortage of medicine and difficulty in procuring them from other places.

‘‘Providing safe drinking water has been the biggest challenge though we have been trying to install as many hand pumps as possible despite the limitations,’’ Samal said.

Meanwhile, the International Red Cross Society is sending a team headed by Steve Penny to Assam tomorrow to assess the situation. ‘‘While the flood waters are beginning to recede, the danger of epidemics is looming large over the homeless people,’’ Chief of the Assam Branch Red Cross Renuka Devi Borkotoki said.

Water-purifying tablets are virtually unavailable in the state while the state also needs a large number of hand pumps to provide safe drinking water, said Borkotoki.

The Red Cross has also sought huge stocks of baby food and milk powder for the large number of children who are virtually starving and undernourished, she added.

Two UNICEF teams are already in Assam to take stock of the situation while medicine stocks are on the way, official sources said. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who made an aerial survey of the situation today, has made a countrywide appeal for relief materials and medicine for the flood-hit in the state.