The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is seeking foreign help after massive flooding left hundreds dead or missing and swept away many buildings, a UN aid agency spokesman said yesterday.
The DPRK, which has struggled with chronic food shortages for years, said in a report early yesterday that floodwaters caused "tens of thousands of hectares of farmland (to be) inundated, buried under silt and washed away".
Paul Risley, Asia spokesman with the UN World Food Program (WFP), said: "If the figures are borne out by our own assessment, then we are very concerned that this is a significant emergency crisis.
"It is still very early in this process but we have received a preliminary request from North Korean (DPRK) authorities, asking for our assistance," Risley said by telephone from Bangkok.
He said a UN agency assessment team left the capital Pyongyang yesterday, headed for flood-hit areas of the country.
Later yesterday, the DPRK official KCNA news agency said coal mining pits, power lines and substations had also been inundated or damaged.
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said he would ask Washington to see what help could be offered.
"We've just been getting the press reports today on that flood, and in fact I asked if we could get some more information on it to see precisely what the situation is and to see what the appropriateness of assistance might be," he said in Beijing.
"I think we, like many other governments, will be looking into further details on it to see what can be done," Hill told reporters. "We'll certainly be looking at it very seriously."
Some 63,300 families had been left homeless and nearly 6,000 Red Cross volunteers were carrying out evacuation and relief activities, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "The Red Cross rescue team in the capital city saved 14 people from swirling waters," it said.
Three big storms hit the DPRK in 2006, and a pro-Pyongyang newspaper reported that more than 800 people were killed or went missing in the resulting floods.
The Republic of Korea's Unification Ministry said it expected damage to be worse than last year.
A unification ministry official said the government was looking into possible flood aid for the North but had not received any request from Pyongyang.
In an unusual move, the DPRK official TV station broadcast images of the damage, showing rain-swollen rivers and pedestrians walking through waist-deep water in flooded Pyongyang streets. The broadcast was monitored in Seoul.
KCNA said at least 800 public buildings and more than 540 bridges had been washed away, while sections of railroad had been destroyed and thousands of homes ruined.
Source: China Daily/agencies
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article