DHAKA: At least 20 people have died and more than 5.2 million have been affected in Bangladesh by floods caused by relentless monsoon rains and upstream river water, officials said on Sunday.
The floodwaters have left many people isolated and in urgent need of food, clean water, medicine, and dry clothes, particularly in remote areas where blocked roads in several districts have hampered rescue and relief efforts.
Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus said in a televised address that the government has adopted all necessary measures to ensure a swift return to normality for flood victims, working in coordination with both government and private institutions.
Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is leading an interim government that was sworn in after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country following a student-led uprising this month.
Abdul Halim, a 65-year-old farmer from a village in the Comilla district, said his mud hut was suddenly swept away by a 10-foot-high surge of floodwater in the middle of the night.
“There are no goods and no water. Barely anyone has come with the relief (aid) deep inside the villages. You have to physically go close to the main road to collect it,” he told Reuters television. Some people in Bangladesh have alleged that the floods were caused by the opening of dam sluice gates in neighboring India, an assertion New Delhi has rejected.
“We have begun discussions with neighboring countries to prevent future flood situations,” Yunus said.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department has warned that flood conditions could persist if the monsoon rains continue, as water levels are receding very slowly.
More than 400,000 people have taken refuge in 3,500 shelters in the flood-hit districts, with military and border guards helping in the rescue and relief efforts, authorities said. An analysis in 2015 by the World Bank Institute estimated that 3.5 million people in Bangladesh, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, were at risk of annual river flooding. Scientists attribute the exacerbation of such catastrophic events to climate change.
“The impact of this year’s monsoon rains has been widespread and devastating,” said Kabita Bose, Country Director of Plan International Bangladesh.
“Entire communities have been completely inundated, and there are now millions of people, including children, in need of safe shelter and lifesaving humanitarian assistance,” she said.
Twenty dead, 5.2 million affected in Bangladesh floods
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Twenty dead, 5.2 million affected in Bangladesh floods
- The floodwaters have left many people isolated and in urgent need of food, clean water, medicine and dry clothes
- Bangladesh Meteorological Department has warned that flood conditions could persist if the monsoon rains continue
Over 1,400 Indonesians left Cambodian scam groups in five days: embassy
- Scammers working from hubs across Southeast Asia lure Internet users globally into fake romances and cryptocurrency investments
- Some foreign nationals have evacuated suspected scam compounds across Cambodia this month
PHNOM PENH: More than 1,400 Indonesians have left cyberscam networks in Cambodia in the last five days, Jakarta said on Wednesday, after Phnom Penh pledged a fresh crackdown on the illicit trade.
Scammers working from hubs across Southeast Asia, some willingly and others trafficked, lure Internet users globally into fake romances and cryptocurrency investments, netting tens of billions of dollars each year.
Some foreign nationals have evacuated suspected scam compounds across Cambodia this month as the government pledged to “eliminate” problems related to the online fraud industry, which the United Nations says employs at least 100,000 people in Cambodia alone.
Between January 16-20, 1,440 Indonesians left sites operated by online scam syndicates around Cambodia and went to the Indonesian embassy in Phnom Penh for help, the mission said in a statement.
The “largest wave of arrivals” occurred on Monday when 520 Indonesians came to the embassy, it said.
Recent Cambodian law enforcement measures against scam operators meant more citizens would likely continue showing up at the embassy, it added.
“The main problem for them is that they do not possess passports and they are staying in Cambodia without valid immigration permits,” according to the embassy.
It urged Indonesians leaving scam sites to report to the embassy, which could assist them with securing travel documents and overstay fine waivers in order to return home.
Indonesia said this week that its embassy in Phnom Penh handled more than 5,000 consular service cases for citizens in Cambodia last year — more than 80 percent of which were related to Indonesians who “admitted to being involved with online scam syndicates.”
Cambodia arrested and deported Chinese-born tycoon Chen Zhi, accused of running Internet scam operations from Cambodia, to China this month.
Chen, a former adviser to Cambodia’s leaders, was indicted by US authorities in October.
Analysts say Chen’s extradition has left some of those running Internet scams from Cambodia fearing legal consequences — after the criminal enterprises ballooned for years — with some operators opting to release people or evacuate their compounds.
