Kofi Annan: world should help

A statement issued by a UN spokesman said Mr Annan was "deeply distressed" by the flood devastation.

"He calls upon the international community to respond quickly and generously to the appeal launched by the government of Bangladesh on Wednesday for urgently-required assistance for immediate relief and longer-term rehabilitation," the statement added.

Aid workers say the response of both the Bangladesh government and the international donors to the floods has been too slow.

Disaster in the making

The Red Cross says a major humanitarian disaster is in the making because flooding has affected nearly two-thirds of the country.

The BBC's Robert Pigott: "Increasingly desperate measures are being taken"

It says up to 10 million people need food and medical help.

Doctors in the capital, Dhaka, say typhoid, hepatitis and diarrhoea are on the increase, caused by water which has been lying stagnant for a number of weeks.

Few people have been vaccinated against these diseases.

Prices rising

Two-thirds of the capital itself is now flooded. Nearly 100,000 people have been forced to take refuge in overcrowded school buildings because their homes are flooded.

The BBC correspondent in Bangladesh says that outside Dhaka the price of rice is shooting up and aid workers are guarding food stocks against looters.

Future crops threatened

Aid agencies say donors have been slow to respond

There is also mounting concern about the availability of seeds and fertiliser for the next rice crop.

The price of seedlings has trebled, which suggests many farmers will lose the next crop, irrespective of whether the water recedes in time for planting.