Rain hampers flood relief

Large areas are still under water

Heavy monsoon rain is hampering relief efforts in north-eastern India, where floods have made several million people homeless and many need food and medical help.

The floods have swept away river banks, roads and bridges, and many villagers have been homeless for more than a week.

Some food aid is getting through, but many survivors are reported to be going down with fever and diarrhoea because of the lack of clean drinking water and medicines.

Nearly 300 people have died in flash floods and landslides in India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

With more heavy rains forecast, there are fears the numbers could rise.

People are trying to salvage what they can

In more remote districts the villagers are crowded along areas of high ground, living in makeshift shelters covered with plastic sheeting.

In the state of Assam alone, 1.5 million people have been left homeless.

Need for medical aid

Emergency medical centres have been set up. But the BBC's correspondent, Jill McGivering, reports that in some areas of Assam, villagers complained that they had not yet had access to government doctors, treatment and medicines.

Some villagers have been moved to government relief centres in schools and public buildings, and Assam's Chief Minister Prafulla Mahanta says funds are being made available.

But other officials complain of a lack of resources, such as boats to reach stranded communities.

Many villagers are reported to have been without food or medicine for nearly a week.

The threat of disease is a major concern now, with children and the elderly particularly vulnerable. Malaria and diarrhoea spread easily when large areas are submerged by dirty water.

Tube wells have been provided, but local people complain the water quality is poor.

The local infrastructure has been badly damaged

"There is a scarcity of pure drinking water and I am feeding my children with coconut water as a precaution to save them from water-borne diseases," said flood victim Dilip Das.

Dr Kamala Das, a doctor in Assam's Nalbari district, said wells and other water sources were "filled with filth and slush, leading to an outbreak of dysentery and stomach ailments".

She said hundreds of children and elderly people were suffering from waterborne diseases.

Aid workers say get food and material aid to the affected people has to be the priority.

The International Red Cross says it will launch an appeal for funds on Friday.

With homes and farmland devastated, rebuilding the region's infrastructure is likely to be a long, slow process.

About 3,000 villages have been flooded in Assam alone, and the damage has been made worse because of the simple, basic structure of many houses.