Bangladesh is one of the world's most low-lying countries, with nearly half its area below sea level. At the end of the Himalayan watershed, it is prone to floods of sometimes incomprehensible proportions. This year's monsoons have taken at least 75 lives in one week, with 29 killed across eastern India and Bangladesh on Monday alone.

An estimated 4 million people have been forced to flee their homes, or take measures to secure their belongings or their loved ones against the rising waters, during weeks of flooding across south Asia. Hundreds of thousands are still unable to return home, and many believe that much of Bangladesh will have lost homes and even entire towns to inundation.

Remarking on the recent deaths, Bhumidhar Burman, a minister in Assam in India's northeast, has said "The floods situation has turned worse overnight," adding that the government there is putting "relief measures on a war footing." The disaster zone is vast, and Bangladesh's government estimates half a million people are trapped in homes surrounded by floodwaters, or with roads cut. 100 relief camps have been set up for flood refugees across the country.

More than 160 people are reported killed this summer, and MSNBC reports "The floods in the low-lying nation now cover half its area, with troops in boats providing medicines and food to some marooned residents and evacuating others." Bangladesh suffered the south Asian tsunami of Christmas 2005, and has seen some of the most cataclismic flooding in modern times.

Monsoon repercussions this season have spread from Pakistan in the west to China in the east, where an estimated 700 people have lost their lives in mudslides and other monsoon-related weather phenomena. In the northeast of India, roads have been blocked by landslides, cutting off food supplies to some remote areas. Authorities in Assam have had to sanction traders for trying to capitalize on the crisis by selling food at highly inflated prices. [s]

• MSNBC: "Two dozen die in South Asia monsoons"