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Bangladesh

Bangladesh flood victims hungry, holed up in ruins

By Anis Ahmed

SARKARPARA, Bangladesh, Oct 17 (Reuters) - "Only the brave would live in these ruins," said village council chief Abdur Rahman Bakul as he surveyed mud houses wrecked by the torrential rain and floods that have swept northern Bangladesh.

Thousands of people are still waiting for food and aid following floods in six districts that have killed 20 people and damaged both crops and infrastructure over the past two weeks.

A disaster management official said at the weekend that about 100,000 mud-walled houses collapsed, making at least half a million people homeless in the region.

Many have fled the northern villages of this low-lying, riverine country. But those left behind are struggling for existence, their lush-green rice paddies now just fields of mud and their vegetable crops washed away.

Sarkarpara village council Chairman Bakul said he was expecting some rice, promised by the authorities, to arrive.

"But there are too many mouths to feed," he said.

Emaciated, half-clad children wandered aimlessly around this village, which lies 325 km (200 miles) north of the capital, Dhaka. Some sat with the women in what remains of their homes, waiting for husbands and fathers to return with food.

"My husband went out in the early morning, trying to get some food," said Anjuma Begum, a 34-year-old mother of three. "But I am afraid he will return empty-handed."

Monsoon floods sweep through most parts of Bangladesh and eastern states of India, killing hundreds of people every year. More than a thousand people died and up to 10 million were left homeless last year after the country's worst floods in 15 years.

The latest deluge was relatively short-lived for Bangladesh, and the floodwaters have receded from many villages since the rain stopped. But some communities are still waist-deep in water and many roads have been washed away.

According to first estimates, the flooding damaged at least 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of rice and vegetable crops and a rural highway network stretching nearly 1,000 km (600 miles).

"If the rice plantations are gone with the floods, our people will just have no other work," said Mohammd Ikramul Haq, a social worker in the area.

In Tajpur village, about 60 km (40 miles) from Sarkarpara, hundreds of people -- who had fled waters that swirled around the tops of their houses -- were waiting to return.

"There is no home for us," said Saidur Rahman, a rickshaw driver sheltering on the highway, where people have received five kg (11 lb) of rice in the past two weeks. "But the water is receding fast. We hear the government is sending more food."