1.
GV Street scene with people wadding through water, and destroyed houses, in Delhi. (2 SHOTS)
0.19

2.
GV & SV Soldiers using steel girders to repair damaged bridge. (3 SHOTS)
0.43

3.
SV People clamouring for food being handed out by relief workers. (2 SHOTS)
1.01

4.
SV People eating food by hand. (2 SHOTS)
1.09

5.
SV & CU Medical workers giving vaccinations. (3 SHOTS)
1.23

6.
GV Village in Midnapur, collapse walls of dwellings leave roofs in the garden.
1.30

7.
SV Villager collecting straw to repair dwelling, and others salvage belongings. (2 SHOTS)
1.42

8.
GV Villagers digging new drainage ditches and clearing silt and debris deposited by flood.
1.42

9.
GV Villagers carrying belongings on heads, past a destroyed house, a woman sits on the ground.
2.02



Initials JS/2340



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In India, millions of people continue to be threatened by deep flood-waters. As new areas are inundated, others dry out, and the threat of being swept away is replaced by disease and hunger - and the challenge of restoring drenched and damaged dwellings. The ancient city of Varanasi has now been declared a cholera epidemic area, and in all flood districts the incidence of gastro-enteritis is increasing.

SYNOPSIS: In Delhi, floodwaters have been receding, but they have left in their wake a formidable clean-up job. Many houses were totally destroyed when swirling waters undermined their foundations. In other parts of India, troops continue to rescue people still threatened by rising water.

The communications crisis, caused when the floods cut major roads connecting the capital Delhi with the rest off the country, is being slowly overcome by army restoration of vital bridges and road links. Authorities are estimating property damage in hundreds of millions of dollars (pounds). But the biggest toll has been in human terms.

Those who survived the floods now face other survival problems, that could be just as lethal. Destroyed food stocks and crops have brought hunger and the threat of starvation. Emergency food supplies are distributed to some of the needy.

But not all have received help, and there have been demonstrations and claims that relief is not being distributed, effectively.

Another major hazard to life is the threat of disease. Dozens of Cholera cases have been reported, and mass inoculations are being carried out. Gastro-enteritis is spreading and a typhoid epidemic is feared.

The flooding Ganges and Jumuna rivers have killed thousands of people, and displaced millions. Here in West Bengal, the poles and straw of roofs left after walls have been washed away provide materials for make-shift dwellings.

New drainage ditches are needed in the silt and rubble deposited by the floods. Poor sanitation and polluted water supplies increase the threat of disease. The Chief Minister for West Bengal, Mr. Jyoti Basu says the situation in his district - one of the worst affected areas - is very grave.