hankyoreh

U.N. relief agencies announced Tuesday emergency aid to flood-ravaged North Korea and appealed to the international community for donations.

The World Food Program (WFP) said the North Korean government accepted its earlier proposal and agreed to food distributions over a three-month period to 215,000 people across the country.

The deliveries "will begin immediately," the agency said in a press release.

WFP has 5,700 tons of food stock currently available in the country but will need an estimated 9,675 tons of cereals, beans, oil and sugar just for initial assistance, it said.

Tony Banbury, regional director for Asia, said the emergency relief will be drawn from WFP's existing operations to provide nutritional food aid and would require more donations to continue both.

The emergency flood response alone will cost US$5 million to $6 million, according to preliminary estimates cited by the WFP.

"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," Banbury said.

More than 200 people are feared dead from the heaviest rains in 40 years in North Korea, and tens of thousands have been left homeless. Witnesses report public buildings and facilities and farm land being washed away, virtually paralyzing the nation.

In Geneva, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said it received a letter from Pyongyang affirming it would welcome international assistance.

North Korea has asked OCHA "to take the measures necessary to ensure coordination," spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said.

"We think that in the coming days, coordination specialists will head there."

"A flash appeal is also being prepared for North Korea," she said.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 (Yonhap News)