Information Bulletin N=B0 5 (final)
The Disaster
Late in August, it stopped raining in the southern provinces of the Republic of Korea, which had been suffering from torrential downpours since the end of July. On August 31, the authorities announced that 199 people had died in the disaster; another 28 were missing. More than 178,000 people were displaced and financial losses were estimated to exceed 1,129 billion Korean won (CHF 1.2 billion). As the waters receded, flood victims began rebuilding their houses, as well as the public facilities of their villages and neighbourhoods.
Red Cross/Red Crescent Action
The Republic of Korea National Red Cross (RoKRC) rapidly launched a relief operation on August 3, initially for just a few days. But as the rains continued, the operation was extended to August 31. The National Society distributed relief items previously stocked against emergencies to victims in the most severely affected areas, including people cut off from the outside world in mountainous areas.
To assist the flood victims the Society set up an emergency relief operation centre which directed the relief activities of almost 12,500 Red Cross volunteers; ran feeding centres and mobile soup kitchens; dispatched medical teams to counter potential epidemics; and used the emergency communications network of the Red Cross Amateur Radio Voluntary Group to assess the needs in the flood-stricken areas.
A total of 45,918 households across the country were assisted by the RoKRC. Over 134 million Korean won (CHF 150,000) has been spent on food and non-food relief goods, among them 17,320 kg of rice and 23,275 blankets. Nearly 70 percent of expenditures were covered by a nation-wide furndraising drive which collected 92 million Korean won (CHF 100,000) in cash and kind.
Hiroshi Higashiura
Director
Asia & Pacific Department
Peter Rees-Gildea
Director
Operations Funding and Reporting Department