Flooding in North Eastern DPRK
Heavy seasonal rain over the past two weeks has resulted in flooding in many parts of DPRK Korea. Particularly severely affected are the provinces of North and South Pyongan. The Red Cross (IFRC) reports that Anju City, South Pyongyang province is 80% flooded after the Chongchon River caused embankments to break in the early hours of 21 July 2013. There are conflicting reports about the number of casualties with between 8 and 24 deaths and 14 people missing.
The government has reported, in its initial assessment, that there has been extensive damage to buildings and infrastructure with 45,948 people made homeless across the country, mostly in the two provinces of North and South Pyongan. Farmland has been inundated with some 10,000 hectares affected with around 1,000 hectares of crops destroyed.
The UN has dispatched assessment teams to some of the areas identified by the government as most badly affected and will be reporting on the damage latter today.
As per information received from the provincial branch of the Red Cross the city of Anju has been inundated with flood waters up to 2 meters deep. Road accessibility is limited and communication lines have been disrupted. Furthermore, the city water supply system has been damaged.
The DPRK Red Cross Society National Disaster Response team has been activated. Rapid needs assessment have been conducted by the DPRK RC and clean water and shelter have been identified as the most pressing needs.
2 water treatment units were deployed in the affected area on 21 July. The local branch of the Red Cross has been responding to the disaster with volunteers mobilized in rescue, evacuation and the operation of the water purification units.
The local police have been involved in providing rescue services to the affected people. The government has been providing food and water trucks for drinking water to the affected communities. Medicine kits handed to the local health institution in June by the Red Cross are being distributed by the government.
The current weather forecast is for mostly fine weather for the next few days.