Emergency UN food aid to flood victims in DPR Korea to start at once

United Nations emergency food deliveries for victims of devastating floods in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) will begin immediately following an agreement with the Government for distribution over a three-month period to 215,000 people, but more donor support is needed to sustain the pace.

Some 5,700 tons of UN World Food Programme (WFP) stocks are presently available in country. Additional food will have to be brought in, with 9,675 tons of cereals, pulses, oil and sugar needed for the initial three-month emergency plan.

“We hope the international community will respond to this serious crisis and support the emergency food needs of North Korean civilians suffering from these floods - but we also call upon donors not to neglect the needs of many others, North Korean women and children, who also require our help,” WFP Regional Director for Asia Tony Banbury said today.

Hundreds of people are dead or missing and more than 300,000 others have been made homeless, according to the Government. WFP rapid assessment teams have completed visits to 11 counties in two provinces, identifying immediate needs and confirming the extent of infrastructure and farmland damage.

According to state-run media, maize and rice crop losses could be as high as 11 per cent. This would result in a significant drop in this year’s harvest, increasing the risk of a larger than anticipated food gap. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) had estimated that the DPRK faces a 1 million ton cereal deficit for this crop year (November 2006-October 2007).

“The flooding in the DPRK is serious. WFP has worked out satisfactory arrangements with the Government so that we can provide emergency food aid to hundreds of thousands of people who need our help,” Mr. Banbury said.

The Government has indicated acceptance of WFP conditions allowing for ongoing visits and assessments by agency staff of food distribution at district and community levels.

An existing WFP operation provides nutritional aid to 1.9 million especially vulnerable people across 50 counties, including many of the flood-affected counties, distributing vitamin- and mineral-enriched foods processed at local factories to young children and pregnant and nursing women.