DHAKA - HUNDREDS of thousands displaced by a cyclone in Bangladesh could be homeless until the monsoon season ends in three months, aid workers and the UN warn, despite government assurances most have returned home.

Cyclone Aila battered southern Bangladesh and West Bengal in India on May 25, killing almost 300 people.

The storm destroyed 4,000 kilometres of roads and embankments, according to government figures, with affected areas still being flooded twice daily at high tide which is contaminating drinking water.

Heather Blackwell, the head of Oxfam in Bangladesh, told AFP the homes of 75,000 families - or 375,000 people - were still damaged or underwater, with a third of those families living in 'camp-like' settlements. Others were living in schools and cyclone shelters, she said.

Bangladesh's rainy season runs from June until the end of September, when much of the low-lying delta nation is flooded, though heavy rains this year are yet to arrive.

Ms Blackwell said many of the homeless had also lost their livelihoods, with shrimp farmers the worst hit.

Food and disaster minister Abdur Razzaque told AFP the economic cost of the cyclone had been 273 million dollars but most people had been able to return to their homes.

But Aminul Islam, the UN Development Programme's assistant country director in Bangladesh, also put the figure of homeless at more than 75,000 families - or 375,000 people.

Cyclone Aila came 18 months after 3,500 people were killed when another cyclone, called Sidr, hit the same region. Other non-governmental organisations working in the areas said the situation was 'very bad'.

Shafiqul Islam, director of the Dhaka Ahsania Mission charity, said monsoon rains would help neutralise the salty water but flooding could bring sanitation problems, including possible diarrhoea outbreaks. -- AFP