UN to launch food prog in flood-hit N Korea
A UN aid agency has announced a 3-month programme to feed 2,15,000 people in flood-devastated regions of N Korea.
By Agencies |
SEOUL: A UN aid agency on Tuesday announced a three-month programme to feed 2,15,000 people in flood-devastated regions of North Korea.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said the Pyongyang government had authorised it to start distribution in 37 counties across six provinces and deliveries would begin immediately.
The WFP appealed for international help to meet the five to six million dollar cost of the emergency flood aid, to avoid having to cut back on its existing programme which feeds children and expectant and nursing mothers.
In unusually detailed reports, the secretive communist state has said about 300 people are dead or missing following torrential rain earlier this month, 300,000 are homeless and 11 per cent of the grain harvest -- equivalent to 450,000 tonnes -- has been lost.
It says factories, mines, roads and railways have also been damaged or destroyed.
The WFP said visits by its own assessment teams to 11 counties in two provinces have confirmed the extent of the losses there, and more visits would be made.
It has reported diarrhoea outbreaks among children lacking clean water. Other UN agencies have said half the main health centres have been submerged and the situation could worsen unless aid arrives rapidly.
"We will work in cooperation with the government in providing food assistance to communities where people have lost their homes and have seen their fields and this year's harvest devastated by these floods," said Jean-Pierre DeMargerie, WFP's country director, in a statement.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said the Pyongyang government had authorised it to start distribution in 37 counties across six provinces and deliveries would begin immediately.
The WFP appealed for international help to meet the five to six million dollar cost of the emergency flood aid, to avoid having to cut back on its existing programme which feeds children and expectant and nursing mothers.
In unusually detailed reports, the secretive communist state has said about 300 people are dead or missing following torrential rain earlier this month, 300,000 are homeless and 11 per cent of the grain harvest -- equivalent to 450,000 tonnes -- has been lost.
It says factories, mines, roads and railways have also been damaged or destroyed.
The WFP said visits by its own assessment teams to 11 counties in two provinces have confirmed the extent of the losses there, and more visits would be made.
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It has reported diarrhoea outbreaks among children lacking clean water. Other UN agencies have said half the main health centres have been submerged and the situation could worsen unless aid arrives rapidly.
"We will work in cooperation with the government in providing food assistance to communities where people have lost their homes and have seen their fields and this year's harvest devastated by these floods," said Jean-Pierre DeMargerie, WFP's country director, in a statement.
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