Torrential rains cause more havoc.
Heavy rain in Chittagong, Bangladesh, have triggered landslides and flooding that have left at least 98 people dead and 23 missing.
Dozens have been killed in Bangladesh after the biggest storm in decades, with heavy rain causing flooding and dangerous landslides.
The death toll from the tropical storms that began pounding Chittagong late Sunday evening, has risen to 98 as rescuers dug out 31 more bodies from the rubble of two major landslides.
Officials and witnesses in Chittagong said the deaths were caused mostly by the landslides and the collapsing of buildings. Authorities have urged excavators to remove the mud to get the bodies out as soon as possible, before a fresh spell of rain hits Bangladesh, as forcasted by the Weather Office.
Officials said the flooding was so extensive that survivors were having difficulty finding dry ground to bury the dead. A survivor said Monday's landslides struck so quickly that nobody had time to react, ''The hills just came crushing down on us''.
Officials and rescuers blamed the landslides partly on the clearing of trees and other vegetation to built homes despite the warnings by environmental experts. It has been said by the head of the army-backed intermin government, that legal action will be taken against those responsible for the removing of the trees and cutting of hills.
Hundreds of families have been left homeless and hundreds more are under threat. It has been estimated 700 residents who lived in clusters of straw and bamboo or mud and tin shanties built along the slopes of at the bottom of the dirt hills were those mostly affected by the disaster.
Authorites have moved many people to concrete school buildings and shelters, and charity agencies have distributed food and water to about 1,000 of the people left homeless by the calamity.
The death toll from the tropical storms that began pounding Chittagong late Sunday evening, has risen to 98 as rescuers dug out 31 more bodies from the rubble of two major landslides.
Officials and witnesses in Chittagong said the deaths were caused mostly by the landslides and the collapsing of buildings. Authorities have urged excavators to remove the mud to get the bodies out as soon as possible, before a fresh spell of rain hits Bangladesh, as forcasted by the Weather Office.
Officials said the flooding was so extensive that survivors were having difficulty finding dry ground to bury the dead. A survivor said Monday's landslides struck so quickly that nobody had time to react, ''The hills just came crushing down on us''.
Officials and rescuers blamed the landslides partly on the clearing of trees and other vegetation to built homes despite the warnings by environmental experts. It has been said by the head of the army-backed intermin government, that legal action will be taken against those responsible for the removing of the trees and cutting of hills.
Hundreds of families have been left homeless and hundreds more are under threat. It has been estimated 700 residents who lived in clusters of straw and bamboo or mud and tin shanties built along the slopes of at the bottom of the dirt hills were those mostly affected by the disaster.
Authorites have moved many people to concrete school buildings and shelters, and charity agencies have distributed food and water to about 1,000 of the people left homeless by the calamity.