Operational summary
29-31 August 2016: More than 300mm of rain reported in North Hamgyong Province, coupled with impact of Typhoon Lionrock, resulted in flooding of the Tuman River and its tributaries around the Chinese-DPRK border and other areas in the Province.
01 September: DPRK RCS mobilized staff and volunteers for rapid initial assessment, early warning and evacuation, search and rescue, first aid, psychosocial support, etc.
02 September: 2,500 non-food items (NFIs) released from DPRK RCS warehouses. Additional 2,500 NFIs and 2,000 NFIs released on 5 and 12 September respectively.
03 September: an Information Bulletin issued.
04 September: First Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) meeting took place. A joint assessment of the international organizations in DPRK conducted on 6-9 September.
13 September: 506,810 Swiss francs allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to meet the humanitarian needs of 20,000 people.
14 September: 138 deaths reported, 400 missing persons, 68,094 displaced persons, and 600,000 people affected by the floods.
20 September: IFRC issues Emergency Appeal for 15,199,723 Swiss francs for 28,000 people for 12 months.
Revised number of people to be assisted
This operational update seeks to clarify that while the Emergency Appeal has outlined support for immediate humanitarian needs of up to 28,000 people (7,000 families) in North Hamyong Province (Hoeryong City, Musan County, Yonsa County, Onsong County, Kyonghung County and Kyongwon County), the programme and services under this operation are designed to directly support affected communities across the most affected areas – Hoeryong City, Musan and Yonsa counties.
In Hoeryong City (population 163,095) the operation will directly support beneficiaries through health; water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH); disaster risk reduction (DRR); shelter; livelihoods, food security and nutrition activities. A number of interventions in these sectors, as well as National Society capacity building activities, will indirectly support all residents of Hoeryong City.
In Musan (pop. 127,979) and Yonsa (pop. 40,503) counties, apart from the direct activities in health; WASH; DRR; shelter; livelihoods food security and nutrition activities, a number of interventions in these sectors, as well as National Society capacity building, will indirectly support all residents.
Situational update
From 29 August to 31 August, heavy rainfall occurred in North Hamgyong Province, DPRK – in some areas more than 300 mm of rain were reported in just two days, causing the flooding of the Tumen River and its tributaries around the Chinese-DPRK border and other areas in the province. Within a particularly intense time period of four hours in the night between 30 and 31 August 2016, the waters of the river Tumen rose between six and 12 metres, causing an immediate threat to the lives of people in nearby villages. Over the three days, 193 mm of rain deluged Hoeryong City. Beyond the rise of the Tumen River and its tributaries that would be vulnerable under such conditions, at least one pulse of water also flowed down the Tumen flood plain and made the flood even worse. These floods were further intensified due to Typhoon Lionrock which hit the coast and prevented the dissipation of the flood waters from excessive precipitation. Therefore the water was locked in the riverbed, and the surrounding areas were flash-flooded.
At least 140,000 people have been severely affected across six counties in the province of North Hamgyong in the northeast of the country. Over 30,000 houses have been damaged, submerged or completely destroyed and close to 70,000 people remain displaced.
Up to now, there have been 138 deaths reported, with a further 400 people missing and presumed dead. The number of injured people remains unknown. The death toll from the disaster is expected to rise with low chances to locate missing persons. The flooding occurred during the night time and hit the population while they were sleeping. Natural disasters are an unusual event in this part of DPRK and the population in the affected areas were relatively unprepared, although the national early warning system was activated and people were warned of the flooding risk, many people did not leave their houses due to lack of awareness to the danger.
Further rain is another threat which can lead to additional landslides and roadblocks in the affected area. It is necessary that all DPRK RCS teams in the field are aware of this risk and are well prepared in case they get stuck on the road. Furthermore, the Typhoon season just started in Asia Pacific and needs to be observed closely.
Winter starts early in this region – local reports indicate that sub-zero overnight temperatures are commonplace in October. The cold temperatures are often combined with high snow fall and iced roads, further impacting the access to the affected areas. This could affect the distribution of relief items and the transportation of construction materials. DPRK is subject to UN Security Council sanctions that potentially will increase delivery time of humanitarian aid associated with the flood operation as all import items have to be proved separately. A provision for this has been included in the planning to date.