The results are, like every year, dramatic. Nearly 1,300 people have already perished this season in South Asia in floods and landslides caused by the annual monsoon, which in particular forced an Egyptian mummy to relocate.
The great monsoon from June to September is crucial for the life and agriculture of the Indian subcontinent, but each year causes significant damage and causes hundreds of deaths in this region of the world which is home to one fifth of humanity.
Across India, heavy rains have claimed the lives of 847 people this season, according to the Home Office. In neighboring Bangladesh, the human toll currently stands at 226 people. In Nepal, authorities counted 218 dead and 69 people still missing following landslides.
Over 40% of Bangladesh covered
Torrential rains fell on the Indian capital New Delhi on Wednesday, forcing passers-by and vehicles to wade through the water that was sometimes knee-high. In the city of Jaipur, located 200 kilometers south of Delhi, the curators of the Albert Hall museum had to break the window protecting a 2,300-year-old Egyptian mummy on Friday to save it from the waters that flooded the room.
"The employees broke the glass in the display case and took out the mummy," said Rakesh Cholak, a senior museum official, on Wednesday. “The sarcophagus got a little wet but we put it out to dry. "
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In Bangladesh, monsoon waters covered up to 40% of the territory. “In terms of duration, this is the second worst flooding in the country's history,” said Arifuzzaman Bhuyan, director of the flood forecasting and warning center.
We do not have the choice
More than six million Bangladeshis have seen their homes damaged by water and tens of thousands of villagers remain in shelters set up by the authorities. Others sleep in huts built on higher areas.
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In the flooded village of Rupangar, outside the capital Dhaka, Shahanara Begum has been living on the road with her family for over a month. “It seems like bad luck is following us. Wherever we go, the floods follow us, ”said the 50-year-old woman.
“It's not safe to live on the road, but we have no choice,” said Maya Saha, another 70-year-old homeless man. “Most of our food and clothing stocks are already unusable. "