India Floods: Disease Fears As Bodies Decay

By Neville Lazarus, Asia Producer

Doctors have braced themselves for an outbreak of disease following the Indian floods that have killed hundreds and left towns and villages devastated.

Numerous unrecovered dead bodies have started to decay in inaccessible areas, the authorities have said.

More than 1,000 people died and thousands of homes, roads and bridges were washed away after heavy monsoon rains in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.

About 92,000 people from hundreds of villages and towns hit by the floods have been rescued, many of who were in the area to attend a pilgrimage to a holy Hindu site.

An earlier plan for a mass cremation of bodies had to be stalled as incessant rain prevented it.

A number of people are reporting in sick at various medical camps set up by the relief agencies.

Badrinath was one of the areas badly affected

In one small village alone, Guptakashi, 128 people are being treated for fever, diarrhoea and vomiting.

Officials fear an epidemic could break out as most of the drinking water in the region comes from the streams and river.

The government is providing a million chlorine tablets and specialised equipment such as cutters and pulleys to help remove bodies from under debris, but they are being prevented by the weather and vast terrain.

Adding to the difficulties faced by rescuers has been the downing of an air force Mi-17 helicopter.

The death toll from the crash has now reached 19 people, including five airmen and others from paramilitary agencies.

Only 12 bodies have been recovered so far as the terrain and bad weather has hampered the search.

Speaking to Sky News, Indian army spokesperson Brigadier Uma Maheshwar said: "Helicopters have been put into operation in four areas today but there are still some places where they cannot fly due to bad weather.

Volunteers load wood on an air force helicopter for a mass cremation

"Ground rescue is continuing by the army to try and reach the 5,000 people stranded in Badrinath and about 900 in some other remote places."

Badrinath, on the Alaknanda River, is the site of an important Hindu temple that is visited by up to 600,000 people annually, as part of the Char Dham circuit, many doing so between June and September

Questions are now being raised about why so many pilgrims were allowed to congregate in the hills when the warnings were so dire.

The region received more than five times the rainfall it normally gets. About 380mm of rain fell, compared to an average of 71mm at this time of the year. 

A report published two months ago by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, a constitutional body that audits the Government, stated that the area was a "disaster was waiting to happen".

Aid heading to the disaster area hit by the floods

It added that the government of Uttarakhand had a dysfunctional disaster management system with no concrete plan and an inadequate communication system, even though the region has a history of natural calamities.

Blasting of the hills to construct dams and hydro projects has loosened the soil, unchecked construction and deforestation has made the region vulnerable to landslides and flash floods, it said.

The state government of Uttarakhand and the central government have come under intense scrutiny and criticism for having failed to heed early warnings of previous calamities.

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