Mekong death toll rises

Millions are displaced as floods wash away homes

At least 40 people have been killed in what has been described as the worst flooding to hit the Mekong Delta in Vietnam for decades.

According to disaster control officials, "most of the deaths occurred in the An Giang and Deng Thap provinces".

Vietnam's Mekong Delta, home to 16 million people, has been battered by floods since late July.

Areas of Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand have been hit hard by unseasonably early and heavy monsoon rains.

Across the region official figures put the number of dead at more than 160, but aid agencies say they expect that figure to rise considerably before the crisis eases.

In Vietnam, the authorities have ordered a state of alert and the evacuation of nearly 100,000 people from the delta which is the most fertile region of the country.

More than 300,000 houses have been wrecked by the floods and nearly half a million people are reported to be without food and medicine.

Cambodia floods

In Cambodia, the floods have destroyed more than 100,000 hectares of crops.

Many parts of the region urgently need relief aid

"This year we have lost a lot of lives and property because of flooding. The first year of the new millennium has given us awful misery," said Peou Samy, secretary-general of the National Committee on Disaster Management.

The United Nations and Asian Development Bank are sending delegations to Cambodia this month to assist in assessing the total damage.

However, the flood waters are now reported to be receding in Cambodia and in Thailand, where the death toll had risen to about 30.

Food shortages

Cambodia's disaster agency says it is trying to distribute emergency supplies, including food and medicine, to more than 1.4 million people.

Flood crisis

CAMBODIA:

119 dead

1.4 million affected

Capital, Phnom Penh, under threat of flooding

VIETNAM:

40 dead

500,000 affected

Flooding in Mekong Delta worst in 40 years

LAOS:

THAILAND

30 dead

Central region under threat

Dams in danger of bursting

Thailand, the world's main rice exporter, has seen more than half a million hectares of paddy fields damaged by the flooding.

Vietnam, the world's number two producer, has suffered less damage as most of the harvest has already been collected.

In many areas irrigation channels built up over decades have been totally destroyed.

The Red Cross says Laos faces food shortages after heavy floods hit the major rice producing areas of the central and southern lowlands.