Some of the victims died after they were buried by collapsing buildings, while others were drowned, electrocuted or killed in traffic accidents caused by the rain, disaster management officials said.

With scores of houses damaged, authorities in Uttar Pradesh — home to some 220 million people — were on high alert and called for all buildings at risk to be vacated.

The torrential rains have also hit New Delhi and the western state of Rajasthan that is popular with tourists, where 11 centimetres (4.3 inches) of rain was reported in 24 hours in Bharatpur district Friday.

New Delhi’s Yamuna river crossed the danger mark of 204 metres by one metre on Saturday leading the authorities to issue an alert. The water level in the river is expected to rise further, Delhi government said.

Building collapses are common across India, especially during the monsoon season from late June to September.

The meteorological office has warned of heavy rainfall across much of northern India for the next five days.

The exact number of dead and missing from Monday’s dam collapse remains a mystery because of the complexity of the rescue operation in an inaccessible area and the secretive reflexes of Laos’s Communist authorities in the face of an unprecedented crisis.

“The search is very complicated, many areas cannot be accessed by cars or boats. Also we have limited modern equipment to bring to the field,” deputy secretary of Attapeu province committee Meenaporn Chaichompoo told reporters Friday.

She also said hundreds still have not been located, five days after the dam burst.

“We can’t find 1,126 people,” she said, adding that 131 have been confirmed missing by relatives.

Initially officials said 27 people were confirmed dead, but Meenaporn reduced that to six, without explanation.

The remoteness of the disaster zone and slow trickle of often contradictory information has sparked fears the death toll could rise sharply.

A stretch of land dozens of kilometres long and wide was submerged when the Xe-Namnoy dam collapsed after heavy rains.

Slowly retreating floodwaters have cut off access to villages and covered much of the area with thick, sticky mud.

“This is one of the worst (disasters) I’ve ever seen. Especially because we’re not a very strong country in terms of rescue operations,” a volunteer rescue worker told AFP, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media.

Days into the treacherous search for survivors, questions are being raised about the quality of the construction of the $1.2 billion dam, a joint venture between South Korean, Laotian and Thai firms.

Operators said it burst after heavy rains in a country regularly battered by monsoons.

But Laos Minister of Energy and Mines Khammany Inthirath said poor design contributed to the accident, according to state media.

One of the Korean firms involved in the project, SK Engineering & Construction, said it was investigating the cause of the dam break and would donate $10 million in relief aid.

The accident has kicked up criticism of Laos’ ambitious dam-building scheme as it bids to become a major power exporter, billing itself the “battery of Asia” with more than 50 projects set to go online by 2020.

Villagers have complained of being displaced, while river waters crucial for fishing and farming have been diverted, destroying livelihoods in one of Asia’s poorest countries.

The accident has prompted fears over the safety of other dams in the country.

“Most of the dams are built by foreign companies and Laos authorities don’t have expert knowledge and management to check for weaknesses or problems, that’s our worry,” villager Si Wonghajak told AFP Saturday.

Typhoon Jongdari, packing winds of up to 180 kilometres (110 miles) an hour, is forecast to make landfall on the country’s main island on Saturday night or early Sunday, according to Japan’s Meteorological Agency.

TV footage showed high waves smashing onto rocks and seawalls on the coastline in Shimoda, southwest of Tokyo, and trees buffeted by strong winds and heavy rain.

The storm, currently some 250 kilometres south of Tokyo, is expected to barrel towards the western Chugoku region Sunday, where record rainfall earlier this month unleashed flooding and landslides, killing around 220 people and leaving more than 4,000 survivors still living in temporary shelters.

The weather agency warned of heavy rain, landslides, strong winds and high waves, and urged people to consider early evacuation.

“We want people especially in the downpour-hit regions to pay close attention to evacuation advisories,” meteorological agency official Minako Sakurai told reporters.

The western city of Shobara in Hiroshima prefecture issued an evacuation order to some 36,400 residents as a precautionary measure, officials said.

“Although it has not rained here, we are urging people to evacuate before it gets dark,” Masaharu Kataoka, a city official, told AFP.

TV footage showed workers and residents hurriedly piling up sand bags to build temporary barriers against potential floods.

“It’s going to deal a double punch,” a resident in Okayama told public broadcaster NHK, referring to the recent killer downpours and the incoming typhoon.

“We are seriously worried,” he said.

More than 370 domestic flights have been cancelled so far because of Typhoon Jongdari, while ferry services connecting Tokyo with nearby islands were also cancelled due to high waves, news reports said.

The flooding in the Chugoku region was Japan’s worst weather-related disaster in decades, and many residents of affected areas are still living in shelters or damaged homes.

“We are fully ready 24 hours a day to evacuate residents,” Tadahiko Mizushima, an official of Okayama prefecture in Chugoku, told AFP.

“We are paying special attention to the areas where restoration of river banks is under way as it would be the first heavy rain since the disaster.”

Officials are particularly cautious after the deadly downpours because many people did not heed evacuation orders and became trapped. Some critics said the orders were issued too late.

“We are afraid that people may not be able to evacuate due to strong wind or floods blocking evacuation routes,” Hiroshima governor Hidehiko Yuzaki told reporters.

“I would like people to evacuate in advance so that they can save their lives,” Yuzaki said.

Japan is now in typhoon season, and is regularly struck by major storm systems during the summer and autumn.

From daily alms collections by monks to the countless temples that dot the country, Buddhism is entwined with Cambodian life.

Monks were given the right to vote in UN-sponsored elections in 1993 as Cambodia emerged from the ravages of civil war and rule by the Khmer Rouge, which killed a quarter of the population, targeted religious groups and turned pagodas into prisons during its 1975-1979 reign.

Chanthol, the head abbot at Wat Langka in Phnom Penh and one of the most senior monks in Cambodia, said premier Hun Sen helped bring peace and restored the nation’s Buddhist institutions, reflecting a widely-held view of the strongman leader as a stabilising force.

“He liberated the country from the dangers of genocide. He brings development and unity,” the saffron-robed monk told AFP, from one of the oldest pagodas in the city which is covered in ornate murals depicting Buddha’s life.

A clock bearing the visage of Hun Sen and his wife Bun Rany hangs inside the main hall, a tell to the allegiances of the monks there.

“My whole life I have voted for the Cambodian People’s Party,” he added.

Hun Sen has combined political savvy and force to hold onto power for more than three decades.

One pillar of his control resides in alliances with the clergy, where loyalists try to galvanise support for the CPP among the country’s 60,000 monks.

Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong, head of the country’s largest Buddhist sect and a backer of Hun Sen, has asked monks in the past not to get involved in “people power” movements.

But in the months before the election, the patriarch urged faithful to head to the ballot boxes.

“Hun Sen and the CPP have harnessed every agent of the Cambodian state… to pressure the people to vote,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division.

“The Buddhist committees overseeing monks are no exception.”

‘Useless to vote’

But despite the top-down control, outspoken monks have for years risked being defrocked by protesting corruption, environmental degradation and land grabbing.

Many supported the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) before it was banned last year as Hun Sen cleared the decks for the election.

Frustrated at the lack of an alternative, some monks are planning on staying home.

“Now it’s just a one-horse race so it’s useless to vote in this election,” one monk told AFP, declining to give his name for fear of retribution.

A total of 20 political parties are running but many are obscure and have been criticised for legitimising what rights groups have described as a “sham”.

Opposition members abroad have called for a boycott but authorities have said doing so is a crime, prompting fears of speaking out.

Another monk, also requesting anonymity, said senior clergy members were applying pressure.

“If we don’t go to vote we will be considered opposition supporters,” he said, estimating that 90 percent of monks want “new leaders”.

“But I won’t go to vote anyway.”

Chanthol denied leaning on the hundreds of monks at Wat Langka, but said he had offered his temporal guidance.

“I told them that the Cambodian People’s Party is a good party,” he said. “My word to them, to every monk, is please go to vote.”

“Words cannot comfort Laotians who have lost families and homes in the disaster. All-out efforts will be made for Laos to recover as soon as possible, and heal those whose hearts have been hurt,” said Chey.

Chey delivered $10 million to Laos Ambassador Khamsouay Keodalavong at the Laos Embassy in Hannam-dong, central Seoul.

A hydroelectric dam in Laos under construction by SK Engineering and Construction, the building arm under SK Group, collapsed earlier this week, causing at least several hundred to go missing and 7,000 people to flee their homes.

“On behalf of Laotians, I would like to express deepest gratitude to the Korean government and SK Group for supporting regions affected by heavy floods that have continued for four to five days,” Keodalavong said.

SK Group has also decided to support Laos with relief items such as food and clothes.

Initial damage to one of SK E&C’s five dams in the southern province of Attapeu was found on Sunday evening.

About 4.95 billion cubic meters of water was released from the damaged dam Tuesday, washing away homes in seven villages in Attapeu.

Since the collapse, SK E&C has sent helicopters and boats alongside some 200 people for the rescue operation.

Investigation is ongoing on whether the flooding was caused by construction failure or heavy rain.

Attended by leaders of various parties, the MPC was chaired by PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) president Maulana Fazlur Rehman. It was held at the Islamabad residence of MMA leader Mian Aslam.

“The All Parties Conference has completely rejected the July 25, 2018 elections with consensus,” announced Rehman while addressing the media after the PML-N-hosted conference concluded.

“We do not consider this election to be the mandate of the public, but a theft of people’s mandate.”

Read: Here’s a list of constituencies where PTI, PML-N, PPP are alleging rigging

In a reference to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), he said the leaders in attendance do not accept “the majority of those claiming to have won the majority”.

Rehman said the elected candidates of the parties whose leaders attended the MPC will not take oath. However, he hastened to add that Shahbaz Sharif had requested to be allowed to consult his party over the move first.

He said a movement will be started, and protests will be held to demand a re-election, the schedule of which would be decided by a committee within a day or two. The MPC will also approach other parties who have concerns over the elections but could not attend today’s meeting, he announced.

“We will not let democracy be held hostage by any establishment,” he declared.

The JUI-F chief said the parliament had approved a grant of Rs20 billion for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold the polls, questioning: “Are these the elections it [ECP] has conducted?”

He claimed that the ECP had failed to command the results of the elections despite “wasting so much public money”. Returning, presiding and other officers “remained a hostage to the army personnel” and did not hand over results of the parties’ polling agents, he alleged.

Read: Under-fire ECP puts blame on result transmission system

“We will not let these thieves even enter the parliament,” Rehman warned.

Shahbaz said Wednesday’s elections saw the “worst irregularities”, the examples of which are not found in Pakistani history.

The PPP had earlier on Friday decided not to attend the conference, with a spokesperson saying its leadership will devise its own strategy regarding alleged poll irregularities.

In attendance at the MPC were Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq, Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair, Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman, Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, Qaumi Watan Party chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, National Party’s Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai and several MMA leaders.

PML-N leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ayaz Sadiq, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Chaudhry Tanveer and Khurram Dastagir and Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) leaders Mustafa Kamal, Raza Haroon and Waseem Ahmed also participated.

Interestingly, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM-P) leader Dr Farooq Sattar also showed up to the conference, despite reports that his party has agreed to join the PTI-led government in the centre after a contact between PTI leader Jehangir Tareen and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.

Speaking at the MPC, Sattar alleged that the July 25 polls were “rigged massively” and the results were altered.

“Results of their choice were devised and the party of their choice was made to win,” he claimed.

The MMA had on Thursday rejected the poll results outright, calling for declaring the entire electoral exercise “null and void”.

The recently revived alliance of five religio-political parties suffered a drubbing in the elections and even its chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and JI emir Sirajul Haq tasted defeat in their native constituencies.

The PML-N too had decided to take all major parties, including the PPP and obviously excluding the PTI, on board to formulate a joint strategy to take up the rigging issue that it believes has deprived it of majority in the coming National Assembly.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb had told Dawn that any decision about whether or not to boycott parliament would be taken after consulting other parties at the MPC.

The dogs are currently walked each day by an army of dedicated volunteers from all over Macau, who have been helping out at the deserted Canidrome Club since it shut down on July 21.

People commuting past the entrance of the shut down Canidrome Club in Macau, which was Asia’s only legal dog-racing track. First opened in 1931, the track’s closure on July 21, 2018 was a victory for those who had spent years criticising its treatment of the animals. // AFP PHOTO

Some 533 greyhounds still live at the shabby venue, which was Asia’s only legal dog-racing track.

Many of those remaining have patches of fur missing, a result of sleeping on wet concrete according to activists, who say injured dogs went untreated when the Canidrome was still operating.

They believe up to 300 greyhounds were killed each year as they reached their racing shelf-life.

First opened in 1931, the track’s closure was a victory for those who had spent years criticising its treatment of the animals.

But the firm which operated the track, Yat Yuen, failed to rehome the animals ahead of the shutdown, despite being given two years’ notice by authorities.

Macau’s angry government stepped in to guarantee the dogs’ safety, slamming Yat Yuen as irresponsible and threatening heavy fines for abandoning the greyhounds.

A volunteer walking with a greyhound at the shut down Canidrome Club in Macau, which was Asia’s only legal dog-racing track. First opened in 1931, the track’s closure on July 21, 2018 was a victory for those who had spent years criticising its treatment of the animals. // AFP PHOTO

It was a direct challenge to Angela Leong, fourth wife of Macau casino pioneer Stanley Ho and a legislator in the city, who runs the company.

Yat Yuen finally seemed to cave to public and political pressure Friday, announcing a joint proposal with Macau animal protection NGO Anima which would see the dogs looked after at the Canidrome for another two months at the firm’s expense then moved to a newly renovated shelter, where any who are not adopted would be cared for until the end of their lives.

Greyhounds inside kennels at the shut down Canidrome Club in Macau, which was Asia’s only legal dog-racing track. First opened in 1931, the track’s closure on July 21, 2018 was a victory for those who had spent years criticising its treatment of the animals. // AFP PHOTO

Anima would run the shelter in the Taipa area of Macau, to be called the International Centre for the Rehoming of Greyhounds, and would also be in charge of the adoption process.

Leong would make a “financial commitment” to running the centre, the statement said, without giving a figure.

The plan has been submitted to the Macau government.

“We hope we can assist in rehoming all the greyhounds — we hope they will have a safe family forever,” Anima board member Zoe Tang told AFP ahead of the announcement.

The adoption process for the dogs could still take as long as a year, Tang said, given the medical treatments and paperwork required.

 – Happy ending –

Yat Yuen organised adoption days in the weeks before the closure.

But Tang says eight of the more than 100 dogs found homes through the firm’s adoption drive are already back in Anima’s care. One dog adopted out has died, she said, adding that adoption procedures must be properly supervised in future.

But some of the greyhounds at least have started a happier chapter.

Pet shop owner Fei Chan posing with her adopted female greyhounds Bobo (R), 9, and Choi Choi (L), 8, taken in after the closure of the Canidrome Club in Macau, which was Asia’s only legal dog-racing track. // AFP PHOTO

Macau pet shop owner Fei Chan, one of the volunteers at the Canidrome, adopted two of the dogs in the last few weeks.

When she took in female greyhounds BoBo, 9, and Choi Choi, 8, they had skin conditions and some of their teeth had to be removed because they were rotten, she says.

They are now recovering and roam gently around her store.

“I thought: ‘Why not let them live in our pet shop, and educate our customers about the good things we discovered in our greyhounds?'” Chan told AFP.

“In the end, I see no difference between greyhounds and other dogs. The ferocity of greyhounds only came from the training humans gave them. Why can’t we teach them the other way around and tame them?”

Another Canidrome volunteer, Georgina Lao, who is considering adopting a greyhound, dropped into the shop to spend time with the pair of dogs.

She is still undecided on whether to take in a greyhound of her own because she is looking after a baby at home.

// AFP PHOTO

But Lao says her volunteer work has opened her eyes to a gentler side of the dogs.

“I found them very polite — like well-trained soldiers,” Lao told AFP.

“Even when they want to dash out, as soon as you tell them to they will follow you back. They are very affectionate and very kind.”

Footage of volunteers from Thailand rescuing 14 people, including the baby, went viral when it was released on Friday as an increasingly international relief mission scrambles to save lives in a disaster that has left scores dead and missing.

A member of the Thai Rescue Team volunteer group helping a young flood survivor to keep warm close to the swollen river in Attapeu province.

The survivors were stranded by flood waters after they fled up a hill on Monday as the Xe-Namnoy dam broke under heavy rain, leaving several villages devastated by flash floods.

The Thai team, who waded several kilometres through rushing water carrying uprooted trees and debris to rescue the group, are fresh from efforts to help free a youth football team trapped in a cave in the north of their country.

A member of the Thai Rescue Team volunteer group helping a young flood survivor to keep warm close to the swollen river in Attapeu province.

They have now come to help out in neighbouring Laos, which is poorly equipped to deal with natural disasters of this scale.

“The boy is four months old. He didn’t have fever but he was crying, maybe because of the cold weather,” Kengkard Bongkawong, one of the rescuers, who is from Thailand’s northeast, told AFP.

“The baby was crying and looks terrified. Actually they were (all) still terrified of the rushing water.”

The video had been watched nearly half a million times hours after it was posted online on Friday.

Earlier this week officials said 27 bodies had been retrieved so far, with the country’s prime minister reporting 131 missing.

But on Friday the governor of Attapeu province Leth Xiayaphone revised down the toll to five, saying the larger number previously given was “unconfirmed information”.

A Thai Rescue Team volunteer group rescuing flood survivors, including a baby trapped in a remote village, close to the swollen river in Attapeu province. 

Secretive Communist authorities in Laos are not used to international scrutiny and have blocked access to foreign media, complicating efforts to establish the exact death toll.

The dam disaster has also raised serious questions over Laos’ big bet on hydropower to propel it out of poverty.

The MCC — owner of Lord’s cricket ground in London and the guardian of the laws of the game — normally insists on a strict dress code.

“Gentlemen shall wear lounge suits or tailored jacket and trousers, shirt, tie or cravat and shoes with socks,” reads their protocol.

“Women must wear: dresses; or skirts or trousers (which may be cropped below the knee) or culottes, with blouses or smart tops, and formal shoes, boots or sandals.”

People relax in St James Park in London, Britain, 26 July 2018. Britain is set for its hottest day of the year with temperatures expected to reach close to 36 degrees Celsius as the heatwave continues across the country. // EPA-EFE PHOTO

However, not even the august body could resist bending the rules in the face of temperatures in London on Thursday that rocketed to an estimated 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit).

Members — who can be spotted by their red-and-gold striped ties — attending the early evening Twenty20 match between Middlesex and Hampshire at Lord’s received welcome respite.

A man cools himself in a fountain at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, 26 July 2018. Britain is set for its hottest day of the year with temperatures expected to reach close to 36 degrees Celsius as the heatwave continues across the country. // EPA-EFE PHOTO

“Due to the abnormally warm temperatures, MCC has decided to dispense with requirement for gentlemen to wear jackets in the pavilion and arrive wearing one. This applies to members of MCC and Middlesex and their guests,” tweeted @homeofcricket, the official Lord’s Cricket Ground account.

The move comes as Minister of Energy and Mines, Dr Khammany Inthirath confirmed the company would not be in a position to deny its responsibility for the flood, which caused massive destruction to the livelihoods and property of the people in Sanamxay district.

“Regarding the compensation matter, I would like to reassure based on the concession agreement, all incidents are related to the dam construction, must be borne by the project developer 100 percent,” he told a press conference in the capital on Thursday.

Xe Pian Xe Namnoy Power Company has not made any public and official statements over the incident as yet.

Many are awaiting the company to react to public opinion and fully express a sense of deep responsibility and accountability for the floods that have set new historical records in their height and extent and in terms of loss of life and livelihoods.

A senior official from the company told Vientiane Times that the firm was ready to handle the incident following the concession agreement and related laws, adding that the company would not be attempting to deny its responsibility for the flood and its consequences.

“We will take responsibility for the incident in accordance with laws. Of course, this is undeniable.

“However, I am not able to provide the detail of the compensation,” the company official said, adding that the company had confirmed this position to the top government leaders at central and provincial levels.

Mr Khammany said that a primary mission of the government and project developers and related agencies following emergency rescue and relief would be to concentrate on the recovery of the livelihoods of the people who had been affected by the collapse of the dam.

He said the rehabilitation mission would be divided into two phases.

The first short-term phase to focus on the rescue of the flood victims and provide emergency relief while the long-term phase would pay attention to the reconstruction of resettlement villages, which includes the provision of accommodation and access to lands for people to earn a living.

He said that funding of all the rehabilitation work would be the responsibility of the project developers.

A number of people have expressed their opinion that the government and the dam developers must think about how to rehabilitate the flood victims, not solely in accordance with the letters of the concession agreement and under the law, but also from a social justice perspective.

Many are seeking a clear plan to support those people including children whose family members lives were lost in the flooding.

The support should include the provision of educational funds for those in need.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines’ Energy Department Director General, Mr Xayphaseuth Phomsoupha said that it was too soon to outline the details of a compensation package, adding that the thorough review of the dam failure’s cause and damages under the concession agreement would have to be made first.

“There is a lot of detail in the concession agreement, so we have to review it before we can say precisely how much responsibility the company should take,” he told Vientiane TImes by telephone from Tasmania, Australia.