The European Union said Thursday it would send ¤9.5 million (US$13 million) in emergency aid to victims of flooding in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, providing food rations, drinking water and emergency shelter, AP reported. The aid will also be spent on preventing outbreaks of diseases that could arise due to the flooding, the European Commission said in a statement. EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said EU aid experts were sent this month to assess what aid was needed in wake of the floods. The Commission said that in early August about five million households were affected by flooding in India and more than 1 million in Bangladesh. In Nepal, more than 350,000 people were displaced due to the floods, the EU head office said. The floods also caused widespread damage to crops, erosion and the death of livestock. The EU aid will be disbursed by United Nations agencies and the Red Cross/Red Crescent. Torrential rains in early August across much of northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal bloated rivers and submerged villages and farmland, killing more than 2,000 people and stranding millions more.
