UN officials said health and food issues dominated the meeting of the Disaster Emergency Response Group (DERG), comprising UN systems, international donors and major NGOs, as fear of an epidemic stalked the deluge-hit areas along with acute food shortage at places.

Health Department officials said 7,445 more people contracted waterborne diseases that killed nine people in less than 24 hours, while the official death toll in the deluge yesterday rose to 628 with 39 overnight deaths, disaster management ministry reported.

Unconfirmed reports, however, indicated that the figure could be as high as 800 caused by drowning, snakebites, boat capsizes and landslides, apart from diseases.

Despite continued recession of water levels in most rivers, millions of people across the country were languishing in makeshift shelters or remained marooned amid crying need for food and pure water.

"In today's meeting we have assessed the extent of damage in different sectors caused by the deluge...but we are yet to estimate the total loss in terms of money," UN Resident Coordinator and WFP Country Representative Douglas C Coutts told newsmen emerging from the "closed door" meeting.

"We'll estimate the loss in terms of money very soon," he said when asked to comment on the initial government assessment that the current spate of deluge caused a loss of nearly $6.6 billion.

World Food Programme (WFP) estimated the damage to be worth $7 billion.

The meeting of the DERG or local consultative group of the donors came a few days after the UN announced that it would launch an international appeal for the 30 million flood victims of Bangladesh.

Meeting sources said World Health Organisation (Who) and other health-related organisations projected a "severe" health situation during the post-flood period, saying the waterborne and other diseases were likely to claim lives of thousands unless urgent precautions were taken.