TOKYO — Floods that devastated North Korea last month are turning out to be worse than initially feared, with more than 100,000 people left homeless, according to aid workers who visited the area last week.

That puts Pyongyang in the inconvenient position of having to turn to the international community for help — at the same time North Korea is facing global condemnation after its nuclear test last week.

“The effects of this flooding will be even more dramatic and devastating than initially thought,” said Chris Staines, the head of the Pyongyang office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “The people there are in a very desperate situation.”

Staines was part of a group of 22 international and local staffers from 13 aid agencies stationed in Pyongyang who last week visited the northern city of Hoeryong, across the Tumen River from China.

Floods ripped through the area Aug. 30 as Typhoon Lionrock lashed northeast Asia. North Korean authorities at first estimated that 44,000 people had been displaced between Onsong, in the north, and Musan, a major mining center 100 miles downriver.

The North Korean government has confirmed that 133 people have been killed and 395 are missing as a result of the floods, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Sunday.

At least 140,000 people are in urgent need of assistance, the OCHA said in a statement, including an estimated 100,000 people who have been displaced. Water supplies to about 600,000 people have been cut.

“My impression was that this was a much worse disaster than the statistics indicate,” Staines said by Skype from Pyongyang. “The damage is very extensive, and there is clear evidence that the floodwaters were not only very high — you can see the watermarks above the window frames — but also moving very rapidly in some places.”

Authorities took the aid workers, some of whom represented U.N. agencies, to destroyed medical clinics and to a water pumping station near Hoeryong that was wiped out, leaving 50,000 people without water. Kitchen gardens and household livestock — chickens, ducks, pigs — also were washed away, Staines said.

“These households have clearly lost everything,” he said.

In some areas, communication links remain cut and the roads are still impassable.

North Korean authorities initially asked aid agencies to help with relief efforts using their existing budgets and supplies. But now officials plan to launch international appeals for donations.

Their timing could hardly be worse. On Friday, Kim Jong Un ordered North Korea’s fifth nuclear test and its largest yet, triggering international calls for more sanctions to punish the regime.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry warned Monday that Pyongyang could order another nuclear test at any time. The South’s Yonhap News Agency reported, citing unnamed government sources, that the North has completed preparations for a sixth test.

With so many other crises around the world competing for donations, agencies operating in North Korea — which include the United Nations’ World Food Program and UNICEF, as well as a handful of European organizations — have confronted difficulty raising money for their projects for several years and have had to scale back operations.

North Korea said the flooding was caused by the “strongest storm and heaviest downpour” since World War II. The government redirected people involved in a “200-day campaign” intended to increase production to instead help with the relief efforts.

Soldiers were sent to the disaster area Saturday, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Workers on Ryomyong Street, an ambitious development in Pyongyang that is trumpeted in the state media on an almost daily basis, also were dispatched.

Tens of thousands of houses and public buildings collapsed, while railways and roads, along with factories and crops, were destroyed or submerged, KCNA reported.

North Korea is particularly prone to flooding because of deforestation — a result of people cutting down trees to fuel fires in their homes — and a tendency to turn every inch of arable land over to crops. Making matters worse, houses, particularly in the downtrodden northern areas, are often made of substandard, locally produced bricks.

Staines asked donor nations to remember that the flood has hurt regular people in North Korea.

“In the communities we visited, we were allowed to meet with local people, and we could see their spirit and their energy and their support for each other,” he said. “These are people who are doing the best they can. They’re just normal, everyday people.”</s>Tokyo (AP) — North Korea is mobilizing to deal with a disastrous flood that killed more than 130 people, destroyed tens of thousands of homes and crippled infrastructure in its northern-most province.

Brigades of soldiers from around the country have been enlisted to help victims of the flooding, which began Aug. 29 and was caused by Typhoon Lionrock.

According to a U.N. report issued by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the floods displaced tens of thousands of people and destroyed homes, buildings and critical infrastructure. North Korean media said it was the worst single case of downpours and high winds since 1945, though that claim couldn’t be verified.

The report said the government has confirmed 133 people were killed and another 395 missing. It said more than 35,500 houses, schools and public buildings were damaged, with 69 percent completely destroyed. It reported widespread inundation of farmland and at least 140,000 people in urgent need of assistance.

The hardest-hit areas, parts of which remain inaccessible, are Musan and Yonsa counties near the Chinese border in the northern tip of the country.

North Korea’s state media reported Sunday that high winds and heavy rainfall swept over several cities and counties, causing buildings to collapse and leaving railways, roads, parts of the electric power system, factories and farmlands destroyed or submerged.

It said a mass recovery effort has been launched.

On Monday, North Korea reported construction units were arriving in the flood-hit areas from all over the country, including the capital, Pyongyang.

“The country’s manpower and material and technical potentials are now concentrated on the flood damage rehabilitation,” the Korean Central News Agency said. It said the ruling party has urged citizens to “achieve the miraculous victory of converting misfortune into favorable conditions … with the tremendous might of single-minded unity!”

The North Korean media also said the focus of a 200-day “loyalty campaign” already underway to mobilize the nation behind leader Kim Jong Un in a mandatory show of devotion has been switched to a call for all citizens to support the recovery effort.

The U.N. agency said humanitarian agencies have released relief materials from their stockpiles inside North Korea, including food, shelter and kitchen kits, water purification and sanitation supplies and emergency health supplies.

The U.N. report said the government is “urgently working” to reopen roads, distributing relief goods and preparing to rebuild 20,000 houses by early October, before the onset of North Korea’s bitterly cold winter.

It added that the government had allowed U.N. agencies, the North Korean Red Cross and International Federation of the Red Crescent, along with private international aid groups to conduct a joint assessment of needs in the affected areas last week, but they were unable to access Musan and Yonsa.

The flooding occurred around the Tumen River, which runs between North Korea and China.

North Korea experiences frequent natural disasters which are more devastating because of its often problematic infrastructure and lack of civil engineering projects designed to mitigate damage.

In August last year, major downpours followed by flash floods killed at least 40 people and devastated parts of the Rason area, near the Russian and Chinese borders where a key special economic zone is located.

A series of floods and droughts were a contributing factor in the disastrous famine years of the 1990s — called the “arduous march” in North Korea — that nearly brought the country to economic ruin.</s>North Korea floods a 'major, complex disaster', Red Cross says

Updated

North Korea is experiencing a "major and complex disaster", according to the Red Cross, after floods killed scores of people and left more than 100,000 homeless and in need of urgent help.

The charity said rescue workers were struggling to reach stricken communities in the country's far north, where thousands have been left homeless and the risk of disease is looming.

"From what we saw, it is clear that this is a very major and complex disaster," head of the Pyongyang office of the International Federation of the Red Cross, Chris Staines, said after visiting the affected areas.

At least 133 people are known to have died after torrential rains triggered massive floods that tore through villages, devastating entire communities and washing away buildings.

Hundreds more are missing and 140,000 people are in urgent need of food and shelter.

"The floods came through with such force they destroyed everything in their path," Mr Staines said.

"People were salvaging whatever possessions they could from piles of debris that used to be their homes."

Some 24,000 houses have been totally destroyed and thousands more damaged, with the full extent of the disaster still emerging as rescue workers battle to reach areas that have been totally cut off, the Red Cross said.

Mr Staines said there was barely a building left unscathed in some villages they had visited on the outskirts of Hoeryong City, which lies on the Tumen River on North Korea's border with China.

"People displaced from the floods are now in a very difficult situation and there are real risks of secondary disasters, particularly relating to people's health," Mr Staines added.

At least 100,000 people in Hoeryong City do not have safe drinking water, with up to 600,000 people in the affected area facing disruptions to their water supply, the Red Cross said.

The disaster is set to worsen North Korea's already chronic food shortages, with about 40,000 hectares of farmland inundated just weeks before the local maize and rice crops were due to be harvested.

"Their loss is another disaster that will be felt in the coming weeks and months," the Red Cross warned.

The impoverished nation is vulnerable to natural disasters, especially floods, due partly to deforestation and poor infrastructure.

At least 169 people were killed by a massive rainstorm in the summer of 2012.

Major state resources are swallowed up by a missile and nuclear weapons programme Pyongyang says is essential to deter US aggression.

AFP

Topics: korea-democratic-peoples-republic-of

First posted</s>North Korea is experiencing a "major and complex disaster" the Red Cross has warned, after floods killed scores of people and left tens of thousands in need of urgent help.

Rescue workers are struggling to reach stricken communities in the country's far north, where thousands have been left homeless, and the risk of disease is looming.

"From what we saw, it is clear that this is a very major and complex disaster," said Chris Staines, who heads a Red Cross delegation in North Korea and has visited the affected areas.

At least 133 people are known to have died after torrential rains triggered massive floods that tore through villages, devastating entire communities and washing away buildings.

Hundreds more are missing and 140,000 people are in urgent need of food and shelter.

"The floods came through with such force, they destroyed everything in their path," Staines said.

"People were salvaging whatever possessions they could from piles of debris that used to be their homes."

Some 24,000 houses have been totally destroyed and thousands more damaged, with the full extent of the disaster still emerging as rescue workers battle to reach areas that have been totally cut off, the Red Cross said.

"There was barely a building left unscathed," in some villages they visited on the outskirts of Hoeryong City, Staines said.

"People displaced from the floods are now in a very difficult situation and there are real risks of secondary disasters, particularly relating to people's health," Staines added.

At least 100,000 people in Hoeryong City do not have safe drinking water, with up to 600,000 people in the affected area facing disruptions to their water supply, the Red Cross said.

The disaster is set to worsen North Korea's already chronic food shortages, with around 16,000 hectares (40,000 acres) of farmland inundated just weeks before the local maize and rice crops were due to be harvested.

"Their loss is another disaster that will be felt in the coming weeks and months," the Red Cross warned.

The impoverished nation is vulnerable to natural disasters, especially floods, due partly to deforestation and poor infrastructure.</s>Floods in North Korea that have left hundreds dead or missing are the "worst disaster" to hit the country since World War II, state media said on Wednesday.

The official KCNA news agency did not give exact numbers of those killed or unaccounted for, but a UN report said 138 people have died and 400 are missing after torrential rains caused devastation in the country's far north.

The floods along the Tumen River, which partially marks the border with China and Russia, tore through villages, washing away buildings and leaving thousands in urgent need of food and shelter.

"The flood that resulted from the typhoon that hit North Hamgyong province from August 29 to September 2 was the worst disaster since liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945," KCNA said.

It also provided figures on the flood damage and those displaced for the first time, saying 68,900 people had been forced to flee their homes, compared with a UN figure of 107,000.

At least 29,800 homes and 900 public buildings were destroyed, it said, adding that 180 sections of road and over 60 bridges had been severely damaged, and electricity and communication lines were cut.

But the report trumpeted the role of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party in responding to the disaster, saying all efforts were being put into rebuilding the northeastern border region, and that the military and people had responded to government calls to join rescue efforts.

Impoverished North Korea is vulnerable to natural disasters, especially floods, as mountains and hills that have long been stripped bare for fuel or turned into terraced rice fields allow rainwater to flow downhill unchecked.

However, huge government resources are swallowed up by a missile and nuclear weapons programme that Pyongyang says is essential to deter what it considers US aggression.

A series of floods and droughts was partially responsible for a famine that killed hundreds of thousands between 1994-98, with economic mismanagement and the loss of Soviet support exacerbating the situation.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said in April that North Korea's chronic food shortages were expected to worsen, due to tight food supplies last year and this year when "most households were already estimated to have poor or borderline food consumption levels".

The United Nations Security Council is also planning fresh sanctions against the North after it staged its fifth nuclear weapons test last week.</s>WILKES-BARRE — Floodwaters have left Louisiana, and local volunteers who traveled to the state with the Red Cross are back home.

Storms devastated the state in August. The Federal Emergency Management Agency declared disasters in 22 parishes, Louisiana’s equivalent of counties. The disasters killed at least 13 people and displaced thousands.

Seven American Red Cross volunteers from Northeastern Pennsylvania spent about two to three weeks in Louisiana, and several are still there today, said spokesman Dave Skutnik.

One group was responsible for managing the shelters where people were staying who had lost their homes due to flooding, helping with food and registration and other tasks. Another group was out in the community distributing food and relief supplies.

Kate Crowley of Tunkhannock helped run shelters near Baton Rouge, the state capital. Parishes outside the city were among the most affected.

“I was absolutely blown away at the size of the entire operation. I’m used to flooding events here, where there is river flooding or at the sides of the river or a creek. Down there, there were whole communities under water,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Other volunteers had different images of the devastation.

Kevin Beale of Fairview Township served hot meals from a Red Cross vehicle and had other images of the devastation as he made his way through the disaster zone.

“All of a sudden, going into areas looking for people who needed to be fed, you’d be looking out at the trees and see mud halfway up the trees. It shouldn’t be there,” he said.

John Byrd of Pittston helped deliver supplies and assess damage from the floods. He saw piles of waterlogged and ruined debris outside homes. People waiting in lines outside of Red Cross trucks for food.

“The devastation was unreal,” he said.

Volunteers also had stories of kindness and generosity. One reported that an anonymous person picked up the check for her and two other volunteers when they went out to dinner. Another said that the restaurant Joe’s Crab Shack visited a volunteer kitchen to feed the people working there.

“People were saying ‘God bless you,’ ‘thank you.’ It was remarkable,” Byrd said.

The Red Cross served more than 1 million meals and snacks in the state, provided more than 75,000 overnight stays and handled more than 35,000 calls from people needing help, Skutnik said. Some shelters are still open.

The danger is over, but the disaster lingers. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said the floods caused $8.7 billion of damage, and he asked the federal government for $2 billion in funding for recovery efforts.

The Red Cross depends on the public to support its work. The organization needs people to support relief efforts by making a financial donation, as well as to consider volunteering to help provide relief on the ground. The Red Cross is still collecting donations to support flood recovery efforts in Louisiana.

To donate, visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS or text “LAFLOODS” to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

People interested in volunteering can visit the organization’s website to learn more about volunteer opportunities and how to submit a volunteer application.
The Red Cross warns that North Korea faces a "major, complex disaster" after recent floods kill scores of people and leave more than 100,000 homeless.