By Thin Lei Win

On the side of a road in Supaul district in the flood-hit state of Bihar, a neat row of tents stretches towards the horizon.

Some have tarpaulins for roofs while others are patchworks of blankets and sheets in different shades and sizes, and any kind of material - from bamboo poles to rattan baskets - is used to keep them in place. Then there are families who don't even have enough materials to put a makeshift roof over their heads.

This is where some flood survivors have chosen to put up their temporary homes since the Kosi River burst a dam in Nepal three weeks ago and swallowed hundreds of villages in eastern India.

There are hundreds of camps like this - relief agency Action Aid says there are 275 camps according to government officials - erected both by the government and the survivors themselves.

At least 3 million people have been displaced so far across a region stretching through India and into Bangladesh, and the numbers continue to grow daily.

For the survivors in Bihar, one of the poorest states in India, the hardship has just begun. Those who made it to temporary shelters have to share space in dimly lit, squalid camps with thousands of others, where they're at risk from water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, as well as contagious measles.

The same is true for people who have refused to leave their submerged homes for fear of looting. Many want to save whatever they have left, despite the risks to their lives.

Michel Anglade of Oxfam said: "Disease outbreak is a major worry... The camps are extremely crowded and shelter, water and sanitation are inadequate and agencies need to work hard to prevent this from happening."

As the water level recedes in the districts bordering Nepal, agencies say the government has stepped up evacuation measures, swelling the numbers in shelters and putting extra strain on already fragile health, hygiene and food supplies.

Sherin Varkey of UNICEF pointed out that many of the flooded districts had not traditionally experienced flooding. As a result, he said: "Their coping skills are not the same."

In Madhepura district, Save the Children said a number of children who had taken shelter on the highway had been killed by passing vehicles.

Agencies are worried about women and children who become more vulnerable to abuse and trafficking in the aftermath of disasters.

Action Aid's Pragya Vats said: "There is no proper lighting in the camps and drinking water sources are far away... This makes it more unsafe and insecure for women."

Vats is concerned about pregnant women's needs too. Her staff met a woman who'd given birth after moving to higher ground surviving on just gruel.

Even before the floods, Bihar had the worse malnutrition, child mortality, maternal mortality and child trafficking statistics in the country, according to Save the Children.

With a population of over 80 million, Bihar survives on agriculture. The floods have also submerged about 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of farmland, destroying crops worth millions of rupees.

While relief workers laud the military for stepping into rescue efforts, they also said as more people are evacuated, more will arrive in makeshift camps such as the one in Supaul and there will be more need for aid.

Already, survivors' anger is mounting and there have been reports of looting food warehouses and trucks in some areas.

"What we have witnessed is that humanitarian needs are very severe and aid is grossly inadequate," said Anglade. "Everyone needs to scale up their responses."

As of now, no one knows for sure what the rehabilitation of millions of people who have lost almost everything will entail. The survivors are facing the prospect of living in temporary camps until early next year for a disaster they never knew could be this devastating.

There is a lot to do at the policy level, Vats said. Villagers tell aid workers: "If we were alarmed in advance, we could've saved our lives. We wouldn't need your help."

Vats said: "There were reports that Nepal had to release the flood waters; if that's the case, why didn't the Indian commissioner there warn anyone in advance?

"These are deep-seated issues that need to be addressed," she said. "We don't want the dead and injured to be just statistics."

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.