Monday, August 24, 1998 Published at 14:52 GMT 15:52 UK
World: South Asia
Bangladesh appeals for flood aid
This year's flooding may be one of the worst on record
Officials say high tides are affecting rivers in the centre of the country and flood waters, already waist-deep in places, will continue to rise.
The floods, which have engulfed the country for more than six weeks, are the most severe on record.
United Nations officials say they are worse than the 1988 floods which killed more than 5,000 people.
The Bangladeshi Foreign Minister, Abdus Samad Azad, is seeking international aid for millions of people left homeless or destitute. He said about two-thirds of the country was affected.
Millions have been left clinging to their swamped homes and more than a million people have taken refuge in makeshift shelters or moved in with friends and relatives.
Many people have been left without jobs and farmers are unable to plant crops on time.
The government says more than 700,000 hectares of crop land has been damaged or destroyed.
Food shortages likely
The Bangladeshi Flood Forecasting Centre expects the flooding to continue until at least mid-September.
Efforts are now under way to import one million tons of food grain, but that will carry an economic price that Bangladesh cannot easily afford.
"Bangladesh will welcome any form of assistance from any government, international agencies and development partners," Mr Azad told foreign diplomats and donor agencies in Dhaka.
The government is now drawing up a list of requirements in readiness for an international appeal.
The BBC correspondent in Dhaka, Francis Harrison, says that the country can cope with some seasonal flooding, but the longer the water remains on the ground the more hardship it will cause.
Disease main killer
Much of Bangladesh is flat delta land easily susceptible to flooding.
With Bangladesh unable to control the sudden increase in river flow from rain and snow-melt in the Indian and Nepali Himalayas, all the country can do each year is predict the flow and prepare for the worst.