Patna, Sep 13: As the Bihar government faces the "Herculean task" of rehabilitating nearly 2.5 million flood victims, it plans to study the lessons learnt after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

"Rehabilitating hundreds of thousands of flood-affected people is a Herculean task. The state government plans to adopt the rehabilitation pattern used for victims of the tsunami as well as Gujarat's earthquake,” the state's Disaster Management Minister Nitish Mishra said here Saturday.

The minister said a team of senior government officials led by the development commissioner will visit Gujarat and tsunami-affected states soon to study the rehabilitation schemes to prepare a plan for Bihar.

Officials in the Chief Minister's Office said that a memorandum Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Friday presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also referred to the plan to use the past models.

Nitish Kumar demanded Rs.89.23 billion (Rs.8,923 crore) from the central government for the rehabilitation of the flood-hit people.

Last month, the prime minister had termed the Bihar flood a national calamity and announced the immediate release of Rs.10 billion (Rs.1,000 crore) for relief efforts. He also announced the immediate release of 125,000 tonnes of food grains.

Nearly three million people were rendered homeless and over one million cattle have been affected by the floods as the Kosi river changed its course following a breach in an embankment upstream in Nepal on Aug 18.

The shifted course engulfed large swathes of Bihar, India's second most populous state.

The floods have claimed at least 50 lives, according to official estimates. However, voluntary agencies fear the number could be in thousands once all bodies are recovered.

About 988,000 people have been evacuated to safer places till date. Around 279,000 people have taken shelter in over 300 relief camps in flood-affected areas, officials said.

About 50,000 more were still marooned in the worst-hit districts of Madhepura and Supaul, who refused to move out despite the government's repeated appeals.

The flood situation was improving but the trapped people remained at risk.

The state agriculture department has estimated that standing crops in 175,000 hectares of land have been destroyed in Madhepura, Supaul, Saharsa, Araria and Purnea districts.

Officials engaged in the rescue and relief operations said most flood-affected, homeless people were now living on high-rise places like embankments and highways apart from overcrowded relief camps set up by government and NGOs.

An official said the state government had prepared a preliminary report on damages caused by the flood.

Apart from damaging a large number of government schools, community centres, roads and bridges, the flood has washed away standing crops in nearly 200,000 hectares of land.

"But the real assessment of damages and losses will come to light after floodwaters recede fully by the second week of October," the official said.