Heavy rains lash North Korea, inundating more than 730 single-storey houses and flooding rice-growing land.
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the officials to evaluate the losses and provide food and shelter for the hundreds of families who have lost their homes in floods. “It is of priority importance to quickly supply sleeping materials, daily commodities, medicines and other necessities to the flood-affected people to stabilise their living,” Kim said in comments carried by KCNA. He has also said that he would be ordering the army to rehabilitate those who had been displaced and 800 architects have been instructed to build model houses in the badly hit agricultural lands.
Kim made the remarks while inspecting a flood-hit part of North Hwanghae Province, on the border of South Korea, as he “clarified tasks” for recovery work with officials there.
South Korea on Thursday donated $10 million to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) for its efforts to help North Korean children and women. Notably, despite the fact that torrential rains have been lashing through both the Koreas, South Korea is relatively less affected. Parts of South Korea have seen more than 40 consecutive days of rain, the longest monsoon since 2013, and more are expected across the peninsula.