ID :
205150
Sun, 09/04/2011 - 20:11
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/205150
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U.S. aid shipment arrives in flood-hit N. Korea
PYONGYANG/BEIJING, Sept. 4 Kyodo -
A U.S. humanitarian aid shipment arrived in Pyongyang late Saturday to help recovery from major flooding in North Korea in the summer.
A cargo plane that landed at Pyongyang airport contained $900,000 worth of medical supplies, soap, blankets, cooking kits and other items, according to the U.S.-based aid group Samaritan's Purse, which carried out an airlift of emergency supplies.
The aid represents American people's concern about North Korean citizens affected by the flooding, Melvin Cheatham, a member of the board of directors of Samaritan's Purse, told reporters in Pyongyang.
Cheatham said he hopes the aid will help improve relations between the United States and North Korea.
Samaritan's Purse has pledged $1.2 million in addition to the $900,000 that the U.S. government has allocated for aid to North Korea through U.S.-based relief organizations.
''I'm very pleased that the United States government is separating political differences from humanitarian need,'' Samaritan's Purse President Franklin Graham said, according to the group's Web site.
Staff members will travel to North Korea to observe the distribution of the aid, Samaritan's Purse added.
Since the end of June, consecutive floods caused by torrential rainfall and strong winds have wreaked havoc across North Korea, worsened by the impact of Typhoon Muifa in August, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Field assessments carried out by North Korea's Red Cross Society and the IFRC found that in some areas of worst-affected South Hwanghae Province, south of Pyongyang, about 50 percent of homes had been destroyed and 90 percent suffered some kind of damage, the IFRC said in a press release Aug. 22.
''The floods and storms have left an already vulnerable population in a critical condition,'' Igor Dmitryuk, IFRC head of delegation in Pyongyang, was quoted as saying, pointing out the affected areas represent the ''bread basket'' of the country.
A U.S. humanitarian aid shipment arrived in Pyongyang late Saturday to help recovery from major flooding in North Korea in the summer.
A cargo plane that landed at Pyongyang airport contained $900,000 worth of medical supplies, soap, blankets, cooking kits and other items, according to the U.S.-based aid group Samaritan's Purse, which carried out an airlift of emergency supplies.
The aid represents American people's concern about North Korean citizens affected by the flooding, Melvin Cheatham, a member of the board of directors of Samaritan's Purse, told reporters in Pyongyang.
Cheatham said he hopes the aid will help improve relations between the United States and North Korea.
Samaritan's Purse has pledged $1.2 million in addition to the $900,000 that the U.S. government has allocated for aid to North Korea through U.S.-based relief organizations.
''I'm very pleased that the United States government is separating political differences from humanitarian need,'' Samaritan's Purse President Franklin Graham said, according to the group's Web site.
Staff members will travel to North Korea to observe the distribution of the aid, Samaritan's Purse added.
Since the end of June, consecutive floods caused by torrential rainfall and strong winds have wreaked havoc across North Korea, worsened by the impact of Typhoon Muifa in August, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Field assessments carried out by North Korea's Red Cross Society and the IFRC found that in some areas of worst-affected South Hwanghae Province, south of Pyongyang, about 50 percent of homes had been destroyed and 90 percent suffered some kind of damage, the IFRC said in a press release Aug. 22.
''The floods and storms have left an already vulnerable population in a critical condition,'' Igor Dmitryuk, IFRC head of delegation in Pyongyang, was quoted as saying, pointing out the affected areas represent the ''bread basket'' of the country.
