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Summary
Between 1 and 5 August 2015, torrential rains have caused floods in several Ri-s (villages) and in the outskirts of cities of south Hwanghae and north and south Hamgyong provinces of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The country experienced a second round of flooding following Typhoon Goni during late August 2015.
Although the country was not directly hit by the typhoon, many parts of the country were affected by heavy rainfall and flash floods brought by the system on 22 and 23 August. The greatest impact was felt in the northeastern city of Rason, near the border of Russia and China.
In two different major floods, the country received more than half of its annual average rainfall (321mm) causing wide spread damage and loss to lives, properties and belongings. According to UNOCHA snapshot based on information provided by the State Committee on Emergency and Disaster Management (SCEDM) and the DPRK Red Cross Society (RCS), approximately 18,896 people were affected, 11,632 people were displaced, 89 people confirmed dead, 5,370 houses were either destroyed or damaged, 5,400 people had lost access to safe drinking water and 125 hectares of farmland and at least 375 MT of crops were lost.
The DPRK RCS and IFRC Country Office have conducted a detailed needs assessment between 1 and 4 September in Rason city. The joint needs assessment team has established coordination with government, UN and NGOs.
Concurrently with the assessment, DPRK RCS in coordination with IFRC Country Office has delivered non-food items (NFIs), including emergency shelter materials (tarpaulins and shelter tool kit), family tents, quilts, cooking sets, hygiene kits, water jerry cans and water purification tablets from its pre-positioned stock to 2,208 families affected by the floods. In addition to distribution of NFIs, DPRK RCS had deployed two water treatment units on 8 September 2015 in Rason city to supply safe and clean drinking water to affected people for 1 month. These water treatment units produced average 90,000 to 110,000 litres of water and provided drinking water to around 10,000 people on a daily basis (9–10 litres/person/day), which is within the SPHERE standards1 . DPRK RCS and IFRC’s emergency shelter and associated items and safe water assistance were considered relevant in preventing flood affected people from potential water and vector borne diseases and providing protection against the harsh winter condition until more permanent houses are provided.
The government has distributed food ration (500 gram/person/day) for 15 days and other basic necessities to the affected people. Under the recovery phase, the government has constructed 80 new houses and repaired 187 damaged houses for 1,068 flood affected people in Haeju and Byoksong counties under south Hwanghae Province.
In Rason city, the government had mobilized Korean People’s Army construction unit to construct 1,800 new apartment houses and repair 4,000 houses for flood affected 5,399 families in Rason City. These houses handed over to flood affected families before 10 October 2015 during the celebration of the 70th Foundation anniversary of Korean Workers’ Party.
In addition to DPRK RCS and IFRC-supported actions, UN agencies and INGOs have contributed to the government emergency and recovery efforts of Rason city’s flood operation. UN agencies alone have launched appeal and mobilized US$ 100,000 to support government’s flood response.
UN OCHA has developed an overview of assistance provided by humanitarian agencies, including DPRK Red Cross/IFRC, WPF, UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, FAO, INGOs to flood affected people. According to the UNOCHA overview, 11,100 people have received emergency shelter and non-food items, 80 per cent of which was provided by DPRK RCS and IFRC. In addition, 11,000 people received health care, approximately same number of people received high energy biscuits, 3,000 women received hygiene and dignity kits, 21,364 people received water, sanitation and hygiene supplies (41 per cent from DPRK RCS and IFRC), 204,238 people benefited from water treatment, 11 primary and middle schools received emergency class room supply kits.
IFRC has launched a DREF operation of CHF 200,673 and subsequently a second DREF allocation of (CHF 261,016) to replenish NFIs distributed from its pre-positioned stock to 2,208 flood affected families in south Hwanghae province and north and south Hamgyong provinces and Rason City. In addition, the DREF has covered distribution of safe drinking water through mobilization of water treatment units and the mobilization of DPRK RCS volunteers for relief distribution and hygiene promotion activities.
During September and October 2015, the hygiene promotion training for 84 DPRK RCS volunteers from south and north Hamgyong Provinces were held. The training includes topics on hygiene behavior, safe water and sanitation, diarrhea prevention, etc. Information Education and Communication (IEC) materials on hygiene were distributed to community people for public awareness. In addition, Red Cross Youth dissemination teams were mobilized to conduct performance on hygiene campaign in school and communities.
A lessons learned workshop (LLW) of the DREF operation took place on 28-29 October 2015. The LLW provided a platform for the DPRK RCS, (SCEDM), government relevant departments and RC volunteers to do a selfreflection of the flood operation. It has revealed that compare to previous operations, this flood response was timely in delivering items from the pre-positioned stock. The LLW highlighted that stock of non-food items saves lead time in reaching affected people with immediate assistance. It has further reiterated that DPRK RCS is a first responder for being able to deploy its trained volunteers network and emergency assistance. The LLW provided a set of recommendations, including capacity building of RC staff and volunteers in needs assessment, emergency shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene, updating DPRK RCS contingency plans, strengthening the Red Cross efforts in the recovery phase, expansion of non-food items stock across disaster prone provinces, increasing logistics (warehouse and transportation) capacity.
The replenishment of most of the non-food items has been completed. The replenishment of remaining items, i.e. quilt and water purification tablets will be completed by January 2016. This delay in mainly due to lengthy procurement and inspection process. A no-cost two-month extension of operation timeframe was requested to accommodate the replenishment of these items. The DREF operation will be completed by end of Feb 2016, with the final report published 90 days after the end of operation.
The IFRC, on behalf of the PRC, would like to thank DG ECHO for the generous contribution to the replenishment of this DREF.