Health officials sounded an epidemic alert in India?s northeastern Assam state yesterday after five people died of diarrhoea following the worst floods in 50 years. Assam?s Health Minister, Bhumidhra Burman, said thousands of people were suffering from water-borne diseases in the state, where many areas were still waterlogged even though flood waters had receded, creating a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Fears of disease have also grown as many of the nearly one million people driven out of their homes are living in makeshift shelters or government camps with no access to safe drinking water. ?Five people have died of diarrhoea and around 10,000 others, including many children, are suffering from the disease in western Assam?s Nalbari district alone,? the minister told Reuters by phone from the state capital, Dispur. The Assam government has rushed water-purifying tablets to affected areas. Teams equipped with medicine and vaccines have been sent to remote regions. South Asia?s annual monsoon, which began in June, has wreaked havoc in eastern India, Nepal and Bangladesh, killing nearly 350 people and damaging infrastructure. Floods are common in eastern India during the monsoon season, which runs from June to September. Heavy rains swell the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers and their tributaries that flow through India into Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, floods waters that had displaced nearly 300,000 people and inundated 1.7 million hectares of farmland have begun receding in most areas, officials said.