UN visits storm-torn N Korea
1 Aug 2012 2:42 PM IST
UN staff visited storm-pounded counties in North Korea on Tuesday, after two days of heavy rain submerged buildings, cut off power, flooded rice paddies and forced people and their livestock to climb onto rooftops for safety.
The rain Sunday and yesterday followed downpours earlier this month that killed nearly 90 people and left more than 60,000 homeless, officials said. The floods also come on the heels of a severe drought, fueling renewed food worries about a country that already struggles to feed its people.
Two-thirds of North Korea’s 24 million people face chronic food shortages, a UN report said last month, while asking donors for USD 198 million in humanitarian aid for the country. South Korean analyst Kwon Tae-jin said the recent flooding, coming so soon after the dry spell, was likely to worsen the North’s food problems.
North Korea-based United Nations staff was visiting hard-hit South Phyongan and Kangwon provinces to see what help the UN team in the country might provide, Christopher de Bono, UNICEF’s chief of communications for East Asia and the Pacific, said today. He had no other details.
On Sunday and Monday, rain hit the capital, Pyongyang, and other regions, with western coastal areas reporting heavy damage. In Anju city in South Phyongan, officials reported 1,000 houses and buildings were destroyed and 5,680 acres of farmland were completely covered.
The rain Sunday and yesterday followed downpours earlier this month that killed nearly 90 people and left more than 60,000 homeless, officials said. The floods also come on the heels of a severe drought, fueling renewed food worries about a country that already struggles to feed its people.
Two-thirds of North Korea’s 24 million people face chronic food shortages, a UN report said last month, while asking donors for USD 198 million in humanitarian aid for the country. South Korean analyst Kwon Tae-jin said the recent flooding, coming so soon after the dry spell, was likely to worsen the North’s food problems.
North Korea-based United Nations staff was visiting hard-hit South Phyongan and Kangwon provinces to see what help the UN team in the country might provide, Christopher de Bono, UNICEF’s chief of communications for East Asia and the Pacific, said today. He had no other details.
On Sunday and Monday, rain hit the capital, Pyongyang, and other regions, with western coastal areas reporting heavy damage. In Anju city in South Phyongan, officials reported 1,000 houses and buildings were destroyed and 5,680 acres of farmland were completely covered.
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