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Background: Rapidly rising floodwaters have brought death and destruction to a large area of East Pakistan during the last week. Latest reports indicate that at least 100 hundred people died in the floods and vast areas of the low lying province are under water after the mighty Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers burst their banks.

While local people evacuated their homes in boats and makeshift rafts, the Pakistani Army was called in to plan emergency relief organisation. Army helicopters dropped supplies of rice and medicine in the worst hit ares. Speedboats were also used to ferry relief supplies.

In many places, rescue teams discovered survivors marooned on rooftops and railway embankments -- the only high ground in the vicinity. At the height of the flooding, Dacca, the province capital with a population of 750,000, was completely cut off by road and rail from northern districts.