Indian floods start to recede

Monsoon flood waters were slowly receding and aid trickling in to devastated areas of north and eastern India yesterday, while authorities began talking about rebuilding homes and reopening schools.

Officials also promised to learn lessons from the catastrophic flooding that killed more than 583 people in India and Bangladesh in the last three weeks and millions homeless, exposed and vulnerable to deadly diseases.

However, similar pledges are made most years following the deadly floods that plague the region.

This time around, the floods completely destroyed more than 31,000 homes in Bihar and damaged tens of thousands more - mostly the flimsy bamboo and mud homes of poor farming families.

Another 10,000 homes were smashed in neighbouring Assam state, and vast swathes of farmland were ruined.

Meanwhile thousands of hungry families were still camping out on embankments and roads in makeshift tarpaulin shelters waiting for someone to bring them food and clean water.