Thousands missing after India floods

Indian authorities will start paying compensation to the families of 5748 people missing presumed dead from floods.

india_flood_missing_130716_bbc_1915989831
A total of 5748 people missing after last month's floods in northern India are presumed dead, authorities say.

Anyone still untraced would be declared dead to allow the government to start paying their families compensation, Uttarakhand state Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna.

"We will issue the list later today," he said in state capital Dehradun on Monday.

The government would pay 500,000 rupees ($A9218) for each victim, he said.

Heavy monsoon rains in mid-June caught thousands of pilgrims visiting Hindu shrines in the Himalayan region, tourists and locals, triggering devastating landslides and flash floods.

The earlier confirmed death toll was around 900.

Piyush Rautela, director of Uttarakhand's disaster management division, said the exact number may never be known.

"Many of the bodies may have been washed away by raging rivers or buried under debris," he said.

Nearly 109,000 people were rescued in land and air operations by the military.

The early monsoon rains flooded 4200 villages, and were estimated to be the heaviest in the region in 88 years.

Rautela said the administration was still providing relief materials including food and medicine to people in remote areas, as well as rebuilding roads and bridges destroyed by floods.


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world