First aid shipment heads for North Korea

August 04, 2012 12:11

The World Food Programme has said it is sending a first shipment of emergency food aid to flood-hit areas of North Korea, where torrential rain has killed scores of people and inundated cropland.

The assistance will provide victims with an initial ration of 400 grams (14 ounces) of maize a day for 14 days, the UN body said in a statement posted on its website.

It said a UN mission that travelled to flood-hit regions earlier in the week found considerable damage to maize, soybean and rice fields.

The country struggles to feed its people even in normal times and suffered a famine in the 1990s that killed hundreds of thousands. The UN mission said immediate food aid was needed for residents of the worst-hit counties, Anju and Songchon in South Pyongan province and Chonnae in Kangwon province. It also stressed that tens of thousands of families urgently need clean drinking water to prevent disease.

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