Aug. 6, 2007 (LPAC)--"These (floods) were coming 50 years ago and today also," said B. P. Yadav, the director of government-run Northern Hemisphere Analysis Center. "There was nothing all of a sudden. It was well anticipated, well expected, and well predicted."

But unprotected by the necessary water management infrastructure, 14 million people in India, and 5 million in Nepal have been displaced by flooding since the beginning of the monsoon season in June. Flooding has also affected much of Bangladesh and its 150 million people. This can be compared to China, where the Three Gorges Dam has proven effective in preventing similar devastation in the lower Yangtze.

The floods, which have been called the worst in 35 years, have caused at least 1,200 deaths so far, in India alone.

Army helicopters dropped small packets of food and emergency supplies to those stranded. "Our effort is to prevent the outbreak of an epidemic,'' Indian Army officer S.K. Gupta told AP.

Marzio Babille, who is coordinating the U.N. response to the flooding in Bihar, said he was also worried about diseases such as measles in a state where only a third of children are fully vaccinated and nearly two-thirds are malnourished.