CARE has started distributing emergency supplies to survivors of deadly floods that have hit Nepal, India and Bangladesh.

The regional crisis has affected 16 million people and there are growing concerns about food shortages and disease.

“This is the worst flooding in more than 100 years,” CARE’s Country Director in Bangladesh, Zia Choudhury, said.

“Almost 5 million people have been affected so far [in Bangladesh] and the situation is likely to get worse as more areas become inundated.”

“People have taken refuge in government shelters while others remain stuck on rooftops and other raised structures. People are in critical need of food, safe drinking water and medicine.”

The heavy rains also triggered widespread flooding in India.

CARE’s Ravikant Upadhyay, speaking from the north-eastern state of Assam, said hundreds of families had been displaced.

“People have lost everything. Schools are submerged. And survivors are in desperate need of support,” Mr Upadhyay said.

In Nepal, which has also been hit hard by the flooding, CARE is responding by distributing food, as well as shelter materials and hygiene supplies.