Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=06/16/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=INDIA/FLOODS (L-O)

NUMBER=2-304384

BYLINE=KURT ACHIN

DATELINE=HONG KONG

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Indian officials say hundreds-of-thousands of people are homeless in India's northeastern state of Assam, following heavy monsoon rains and flooding. Kurt Achin reports from our Asia News Center.

TEXT: Assam officials say floodwaters have displaced 400-thousand people in 450 villages.

They say the floods have contaminated water supplies, and many people face an acute shortage of safe drinking water. Government workers are distributing water purification tablets to as many villagers as possible.

Heavy monsoon rains are common in Assam at this time of year. Because they are crucial to agriculture, they are viewed as more of a blessing than a curse.

The rains were especially welcome this year, because they ended a severe heat wave that had killed about 14-hundred people.

But excessive rainfall causes small and medium rivers to overflow, and raises the risk that the state's main river, the Brahmaputra, will also swell beyond its banks. When that happened last year, 100 people were killed and two-point-five-million were left homeless.

This year, officials warn an embankment on the Brahmaputra may soon be breached, causing the state capital's international airport to be submerged.

Assam's state government is looking to New Delhi for long-range assistance on the problem.

Officials have proposed a 416-million-dollar project to reinforce smaller river embankments across the state. They criticize the national government for moving too slowly on the proposal.

Meanwhile, meteorologists are predicting more rainfall for northeastern India over the next 48-hours. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/KA/BK/RAE/TW