While relief activity starts up in the face of last week's devastating floods in DPRK (North Korea), the most urgent need of all is for medicines and antibiotics, according to the government and DPRK Red Cross.
Information on the full impact of the floods is still limited, but at least 300,000 people have been affected, most of them in villages already suffering from shortages of food and medical supplies.
World Vision DPRK National Director Victor Hsu said "Even before the floods, whenever I visited hospitals and clinics across the country there was always a shortage of medicines and medical supplies. The pharmacies were empty of supplies."
Responding to the urgent request, World Vision Canada will send around 90,000 doses of tetanus/diphtheria vaccine, worth approximately $1.5 million, while their international humanitarian emergency affairs team sources another $300,000 worth of essential medicines.
A shipment of relief kits containing family supplies and food arrived yesterday from World Vision Korea, destined for communities in North Hwanghae province where World Vision has been operating an agricultural project.
World Vision plans to send a small team to flood-affected areas in early September to coincide with the arrival of their medical supplies. As well as overseeing distribution, they will also help to assess community needs.
North Hwanghae has been designated as World Vision's humanitarian zone within DPRK and many development initiatives in this province will have been affected by the disaster. As well as emergency supplies of food aid to the area, rebuilding basic infrastructure will almost certainly be a priority.
"We have heard that at least fifty percent of clinics have been destroyed," said Victor on Tuesday. "And with many children already suffering malnutrition, the international community needs to work together to avoid fullscale calamity."
Spokespeople/interviews:
NB: Currently there are no World Vision spokespeople or communicators at the scene of the emergency.
Richard Rumsey, Regional HEA Director, Asia Pacific
Cell: +65 9137 2989
Victor Hsu, WV North Korea National Director
Office: 1-212-308-2098
Cell: 1-760-284-2036
For further information, email:
katie_chalk@wvi.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
