42 Dead in Flooding, Red Cross Reports

The Red Cross said recent floods in North Korea left 42 people dead and affected 39,000 others, and it warned of worsening food shortages in the already impoverished nation. In the first independent word of the damage in the reclusive country, Marcel Fortier, head of the North Korea desk at the Geneva-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, or IFRC, said initial field reports suggested that the floods, caused by tropical storm Olga, were the worst to strike North Korea in recent times. In addition to the dead, at least 92 people were badly hurt in the floods and mudslides, according to figures provided by the IFRC and the local Red Cross, he added. In recent years, the Stalinist state has suffered a series of floods and droughts, which have destroyed crops, damaged farmland and left many people starving.