JAKARTA - Rainfall and river water upstream from India have caused heavy flooding in northeastern Bangladesh and affected more than 2 million people with the situation could worsen.
The UN children's agency, UNICEF, said residents trapped in the region, including more than 772,000 children, urgently needed help.
"Children are the most vulnerable group, facing increased risk of drowning, malnutrition, deadly disease transmitted through water, refugee trauma, and potential abuse in densely populated shelters," said Marijuana Yett, UNICEF Representative for Bangladesh. June
The Bangladesh Meteorology Department estimates that heavy rains will occur again in the next few days which could exacerbate flooding and cause landslides in hilly areas.
At least 10 people, including eight Rohingya Muslims, died on Wednesday, June 19 after heavy rains that triggered landslides in refugee camps in southern Bangladesh.
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The northeast region was severely affected, with heavy rainfall and upstream water from India causing widespread inundation. Bangladesh is still recovering from a typhoon that hit its southern coast late last month.
"I am afraid that this disaster can be as devastating as the 2022 flood," said a resident of Sylhet, Shameem Chowdhury, referring to the flood which was the worst flood in the region for 122 years.
TV footage shows large floods occurring in fields and villages with people traversing knee-high water in the town of Sylhet as rainfall raises the water surface along the four rivers in the region.
Many areas are submerged, posing a significant threat to plants if flooding lasts for a long time, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture said.
Floods also caused significant damage to infrastructure with more than 810 public schools in the Sylhet division flooded and nearly 500 schools used as flood shelters, UNICEF said.
Nearly 140 community clinics were also submerged, disrupting important health services.
Analysis conducted in 2015 by the World Bank Institute estimates that around 3.5 million people in Bangladesh, one of the most climate-prone countries in the world, are at risk of experiencing river flooding every year. Scientists attribute the worsening of the disaster to climate change
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