New Delhi:
Over 1,400 people, including 488 in Kerala, have lost their lives due to rains, floods and landslides in 10 states so far in the monsoon season, the Home Ministry said Monday.
According to the ministry's National Emergency Response Centre (NERC), 488 people have died in Kerala and 54.11 lakh in 14 districts have been severely hit by rains and floods, the worst in a century.
As many as 14.52 lakh flood-displaced people are living in relief camps across the state.Standing crops on over 57,024 hectares of land were damaged in the southern state.
As many as 254 people have died in Uttar Pradesh, 210 in West Bengal, 170 in Karnataka, 139 in Maharashtra, 52 in Gujarat, 50 in Assam, 37 in Uttarakhand, 29 in Odisha and 11 in Nagaland.
Forty-three people have been missing — 15 in Kerala, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, five in West Bengal, six in Uttarakhand and three in Karnataka, while 386 have been injured in rain-related incidents in the 10 states.
Rains and floods have hit 30 districts in Odisha, 26 districts in Maharashtra, 25 in Assam, 23 each in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, 14 in Kerala, 13 in Uttarakhand, 11 each in Karnataka and Nagaland, 10 in Gujarat.
In Assam, 11.47 lakh people have borne the brunt of the rains and floods, which have also hit crops on 27,964 hectares of land. In West Bengal, the deluges have hit 2.28 lakh people and damaged crops on 48,552 hectares of land.
In Uttar Pradesh, 3.42 lakh people have been impacted and crops on 50,873 hectares damaged. In Karnataka, 3.5 lakh population have been hit and crops on 3,521 hectares of land damaged.
Kerala
Meanwhile, 12 people have died of leptospirosis disease in Kerala between August 1 and September 3, while 372 confirmed leptospirosis cases have been reported from the flood-hit state since August 1.
In lieu of the outbreak, Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja Teacher called a review meeting at Kozhikode, the district from where the most number of leptospirosis cases have been reported.
After the review meeting, the health minister announced three weeks of high alert and said, "Kerala would be on high alert for next three weeks but there is nothing to panic. All hospitals are equipped with enough stocks of medicine. Even though there were wide advisories after the flood, people were reluctant to consume precautionary tablets. As more cases have been reported from Kozhikode district, an isolated war-room will be set up in Kozhikode medical college."
Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that affects both humans and animals. It infects human when they come in direct contact with the urine of infected animals or with a urine-contaminated environment. Some of the early symptoms of the disease include high fever, muscle pain, headache, redness of the eye, vomiting, diarrhoea among others.