Aid agencies are picking up the pieces in the wake of Cyclone Nisha, which has reportedly displaced more than 1 million people in southern India and Sri Lanka - and are bracing themselves for a second round of storms heading towards the region.

At the end of last month, while most of the media's attention was on the Mumbai bombings, the cyclone swept over the coastal areas of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, submerging homes, fields and disrupting power supplies.

Estimates of the numbers affected vary, but members of Action by Churches Together (ACT) umbrella group say that they exceed the 800,000 figure given by the authorities in Tamil Nadu alone.

The cyclone struck the same area that was hit by the Indian Ocean Tsunami four years ago. Most international aid agencies have left following the end of their post-tsunami reconstruction work, but the Lutheran World Service India (LWS India) is in two of the areas worst-affected by Nisha: Cuddalore and Nagapattinam.

The organisation's head of disaster risk management, J. G. Mathaikutty, said it was the most vulnerable people, such as the Dalits at the bottom of India's caste system, who have been hardest hit by the storm and floods.

"It's the people living in low-lying areas," he said. "Mud houses have fallen down, and coconut leaf roofs have blown off."

LWS India's food aid operation, funded through rapid-response funds, is well underway, with basics such as rice, dahl, oil and salt being distributed to 10,000 people.

Following an appeal made through ACT, it hopes to launch a second, more recovery-focused operation in the next week, to help with shelter repair and provide education for children.

In northern Sri Lanka, a combination of Nisha and heavy rains caused the worst flooding in 50 years in the Jaffna Peninsula, the U.N. news service IRIN reports.

High waters brought transport and communications to a halt for a week, damaging crops, homes and displacing around 360,000 people, according to the country's National Disaster Management Centre.

With the flood waters now receding, aid agencies such as Caritas and the Sri Lanka Red Cross are concentrating on cleaning contaminated wells so that people have safe drinking water.

"All these areas are dependent on fresh water wells in the villages," says Sri Lanka Red Cross spokesman Patrick Fuller. "Water is one of the main priorities, along with food and shelter."

The Red Cross plans to extend its relief operation by distributing clothing to around 6,000 families.

It is also preparing for a possible second crisis, as Tropical storm 7 heads west towards the same area struggling to recover from Nisha.

"The concern at the moment is the cyclonic storm due to hit tomorrow," says Fuller. "That could be a double blow for people already affected by Nisha."

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) claims tens of thousands of flood-affected people in Sri Lanka's neighbouring Vanni region are not getting the help they need, due to restrictions on humanitarian organisations working in the conflict zone.

The Sri Lankan government, which is battling Tamil Tiger rebels in the north, has banned humanitarian agencies from working in the area, citing security as the reason.

HRW says that, apart from the Red Cross and Caritas, only government-approved aid convoys are allowed into the flooded area of Vanni, with the result that tens of thousands of people lack adequate food and shelter. Many of them had moved to Vanni from other areas after being displaced by fighting.

The Sri Lankan military says its operations against the Tamil Tigers have now resumed after last week's heavy rains slowed its advance on the rebels' self-declared capital of Kilinochchi.

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