About 28,000 people of Keti Bunder may suffer a major displacement in the next 10 years as the sea is fast eroding their land. With the construction of dams and barrages upstream and stoppage of water downstream, the pace of sea intrusion has increased over the decades. The area has become highly vulnerable to cyclones and tsunamis as mangroves that serve as natural barriers to these calamities are being uprooted at an alarming rate. These facts were highlighted during a tour of journalists to the deltoid region. The visit was organised by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Karachi.

Soldiers evacuated thousands of stranded people from submerged villages Wednesday, as floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains swept across the country's east and northeast. More than 3,00,000 people have lost their homes so far, and are scattered between camps, highways and makeshift shelters on higher ground, officials said. Rising river waters have broken through mud embankments and flooded vast areas.

Vista Communications has signed an agreement with WorldSpace in April this year to broadcast information especially on disaster alert and its management along with other important issues using a new device in the country within six months. The officials of the organisation said this at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity auditorium in the city yesterday.

By Hal Weitzman in Pike County, Illinois, and Javier Blas in London Consumers were warned to expect even sharper increases in global food prices after US officials said that some of the country's best farmland was facing its worst flooding for 15 years. Agriculture officials and traders said the damage could push up worldwide corn and soyabean prices, which have spiralled in recent days as floods have swamped crops in parts of Iowa, the US's biggest corn-producing state.

Survivors of the cyclone which ravaged Myanmar last month will soon receive rice generated by the popular UN-backed Internet game that allows players to expand their word skills while helping to feed the world's hungry. FreeRice.com, in which 20 grains of rice are donated to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) every time a person answers a question correctly, has already generated over 36 billion grains of rice enough for more than 3.7 million meals. Two consignments of rice for Myanmar have been paid for by YUM! and Unilever, the latest companies to help fund the FreeRice initiative.

ISRO will set up 1,000 automatic weather stations (AWS) across the country within the next six months as part of its effort to collect region-specific data on weather and make need-based meteorological services available for civilian purposes. AWS is a meteorological equipment with sensors to measure rainfall, humidity, wind speed, atmospheric temperature and direction of wind. The data collected would be sent to specially-equipped centres via satellite for processing. The stations will generate data on an hourly basis.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday blamed the public-sector North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) for the flash floods in Lakhimpur district of eastern Assam on Saturday. NEEPCO had released water from its Ranganadi hydel project dam in Arunachal Pradesh without any warning.

The West Bengal Government on Wednesday called in the Army and the Air Force as continuous rainfall caused flash floods in West Midnapur district. The incessant rainfall was triggered by a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal and the southwest monsoon since Monday. At least five persons were killed and 1.6 million people affected.

Times of India, Jaipur, 19 June 08 JAIPUR: A day after the city faced severe problems of waterlogging when the first showers of the monsoon hit the city, JMC, JDA and the district administration held a joint consultation at the JDA headquarters on how to deal with the problem. As the city is not yet ready to provide the basic civic amenities, the mayor on Wednesday announced some emergency measures to tackle a repeat of Tuesday-like situation in the city.

Life became paralysed in Chittagong yesterday as major parts of the port city were submerged in knee-deep water following heavy rains throughout the day. Besides, two walls collapsed at Lalkhan Bazar and Surson Road in the morning due to the downpour, but none was hurt. According to the Met Office at Patenga, over 202 millimetres of rainfall was recorded in last 24 hours till 3:00pm yesterday.