Monsoon flooding, beginning in mid-September, has submerged scores of villages in southwestern Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal.  Residents of the Indian towns of Bongaon Pathoria and Maslandapur are among the hundreds of thousands of people in the area who have been hit hard by the floods, says Bernard Haldar, principal of the Calcutta Seventh-day Adventist School.  Haldar, who visited Maslandpur with some members of his staff, distributed relief materials and helped about 300 families move to safer places.

Haldar and his team also visited the small Adventist school in the area.  He reports that at least 30 church members have lost their homes, many of whom are taking shelter in the two-storied school building.  People in the flood-devastated district are in great need of food, clothing, shelter, and medicine, says Haldar.  The flood waters, which cover large areas across West Bengal and Bangladesh, have forced more than 20 million people to leave their homes, and have claimed an estimated 1,000 lives.