SEOUL, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - North Korea said Wednesday that devastating floods in August destroyed hundreds of hospitals across the communist country.
"At least 560 hospitals and more than 2,100 clinics were destroyed and lots of medical supplies washed away across the country to increase the damage," a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency.
He thanked the international community for providing emergency aid to North Korea.
Official media have said at least 600 people are dead or missing after the flooding, which destroyed the homes of some 240,000 families and caused huge damage to all sectors of the economy.
The UN's World Food Programme has quoted the North's agriculture ministry as saying that more than one-fifth of the rice crop was damaged.
The WFP has set up an emergency feeding programme for 215,000 people for three months. The nation faced a food shortfall this year of one million tonnes, or 20 percent of its needs, even before the floods.
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Copyright (c) 2007 Agence France-Presse
Received by NewsEdge Insight: 09/05/2007 07:37:18