S.Asia cyclone contaminates water sources

By Nita Bhalla

NEW DELHI (Reuters AlertNet) Tens of thousands of cyclone survivors in India and Bangladesh desperately need clean water after the storm contaminated drinking sources with sea water, aid agencies say.

Relief workers also warned the death toll could soar if there are outbreaks of water-borne diseases following massive flooding.

Packing winds of up 100 kph, cyclone Aila slammed into eastern India and Bangladesh on Monday, killing at least 240 people and injuring over 6,500.

The storm whipped up 4-metre tidal surges which tore through embankments, sweeping away homes, ravaging crops and damaging roads and bridges.

About 4.6 million people in India's West Bengal state and around 3.7 million living along Bangladesh's coastal belt are estimated to have been affected.

Dozens are still missing, including a group of 16 children in India who were playing in an abandoned house which was washed away by a raging river in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal.

As government officials and aid workers scramble to help, they say there is a dire shortage of clean drinking water because sea water has inundated hundreds of rivers, ponds and wells.

"The tidal waves and the upward flow of sea water into river deltas have deposited saline water contaminating all drinking water sources," said Dr P.V. Unnikrishnan, ActionAid's emergency coordinator for Asia.