Mai M.1/3 Photo

Too much of a basic human need

Water is essential to life but in such places as India, Pakistan, China, and Thailand deluges have once again caused misery. Typhoon Nesat hit the Philippines earlier this week on its way to south China. In Pakistan, more than 5 million people have been affected by recent flooding, according to the aid agency Oxfam. Pakistan is still struggling to recover from the devastating monsoon rains in 2010. -- Lloyd Young(36 photos total)

A village boy sits on the banks of the swelling Daya River, near Pipli village, about 25 kilometers from the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneshwar Sept. 9. The flood situation in Orissa state worsened with the release of more water downstream from Hirakud dam, according to a news agency. A high alert has been sounded in 11 districts of the state. (Biswaranjan Rout/Associated Press)

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A displaced Pakistani man gestures to Pakistani army officers as they deliver rice and sugar to flood victims, in Badin District, in Pakistan's Sindh province Sept. 24. In Pakistan's Sindh province alone, the floods have killed over 220 people, damaged or destroyed some 665,000 homes and displaced more than 1.8 million people, according to the United Nations. Neighboring Baluchistan province has also been affected. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

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Residents carry a pig down a flooded street during typhoon Nesat in San Mateo, Rizal, east of Manila on Sept. 27. Typhoon Nesat brought the Philippine capital to a near standstill with its vast rain band also flooding remote farms and vicious winds tearing roofs off buildings in coastal towns. (Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Floods cover a major highway heading north from Bangkok in Sept. 12 in Saraburi, Thailand. Floods continue to ravage areas further south, with 5 people dying after a two-story apartment building sunk when a foundation collapsed due to rain and hillside runoff. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

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Surging waves hit against the breakwater in Udono in a port town of Kiho, Mie Prefecture, central Japan, Sept. 21. A powerful typhoon was bearing down on Japan's tsunami-ravaged northeastern coast approaching a nuclear power plant crippled in that disaster and prompting calls for the evacuation of more than a million people. ( #

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A resident carries his son while crossing on waist deep floodwaters brought by Typhoon Nesat, locally known as Pedring, that hit the Tanza town of Malabon city, north of Manila Sept. 27. Typhoon Nesat crossed the Philippines main island leaving behind at least 7 dead after it lashed crop-growing provinces and brought the capital to a near standstill as it flooded roads and villages and cut power supplies. (Reuters) #

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People clean up mud after flood waters receded on Sept. 20 in Quxian County, Sichuan Province of China. At least 13 people were killed, 18 others were missing and 1,320,000 people were deeply affected in rain-triggered floods from last Friday in Sichuan province. (ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images) #

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Family members, displaced by floods, use a tarp to escape a monsoon downpour while taking shelter at a make-shift camp for flood victims in the Badin district in Pakistan's Sindh province Sept. 14. Floods this year have destroyed or damaged 1.2 million houses and flooded 4.5 million acres since late last month, according to officials and Western aid groups. More than 300,000 people have been made homeless and about 200 have been killed. (Akhtar Soomro/Reuters) #

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Rescuers and volunteers search for the body of the fourth fatality in Baguio, northern Philippines on Aug. 29 after an avalanche of rubbish at the city dump at the height of Typhoon Nanmadol. Super-typhoon Nanmadol left at least 16 people dead after hitting the Philippines, and the toll is expected to rise as hopes of finding those missing fade, the civil defense chief said. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images) #