Int'l relief agency pledges US$590,000 in relief aid to N. Korea

SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- An international relief agency said it allocated more than US$590,000 for emergency relief aid to help North Korea recover from its deadly floods.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on its Web site on Tuesday that it plans to deliver the aid to over 15,000 homeless or displaced people over the next six months.
The move came days after the North said a recent powerful typhoon and heavy downpours have left dozens of people dead, injured or missing, though it did not give details on the death toll.
The North has also said strong winds and flash floods destroyed 2,900 homes across the country, forcing more than 8,000 people to live in makeshift buildings.
It said the flooding submerged or washed away nearly 60,000 hectares of farmland, a development the IFRC said could threaten the already fragile food security situation in the affected regions.
North Korea, which has 1.6 million hectares of arable land, has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s when it suffered a massive famine that was estimated to have killed 2 million people.
The aid agency also said malaria is endemic in the flood-affected areas. A South Korean private aid agency plans to deliver two pieces of ultrasonic equipment that can detect malaria to the North next week.
North Korea has been hit hard by floods in recent years, mainly because of its lack of investment in disaster control and severe deforestation.
Last year, a massive flood swept through the North Korean city of Sinuiju on the border with China, inundating thousands of houses and a vast tract of farmland while killing 14 people, according to North Korea's media and international relief agencies.
In 2007, North Korea was hit by the heaviest rainfall in 40 years, leaving some 600 people dead or missing and about 100,000 people homeless.