{"id":2731,"date":"2016-09-15T18:08:11","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T09:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang-2\/2016\/09\/report\/20160915-nk-korea-flood-damage\/"},"modified":"2021-07-13T14:57:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T05:57:53","slug":"20160915-nk-korea-flood-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2016\/09\/news\/20160915-nk-korea-flood-damage\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N.Korea\uff1eEnormous Flood Damage at Tumen River Basin, Outcry over No Relief Efforts by Government"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Flooded Tumen River with broken dyke on August 31. Right is Namyang, North Korea (Quoted from HP of Jilin Newspaper)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

2016\/Sept\/12<\/em><\/p>\n

A huge flood deprived a lot of lives at Namyang Laborer District of Onsung County in North Korea. But the authorities\u2019 futile effort to cope with the disaster provoked outcry from the people, reported couple of reporting partners at the region.<\/p>\n

 \u201cA,\u201d a reporting partner of ASIAPRESS living in the region, covered the damage on September 8: There are number of deaths by the flood at Namyang and it is said that six people are dead at Saebyol County. Two people are said to be dead at Ryuda Island (an island at the mid-Tumen River). People, when asked, are just saying \u2018Many are dead, or missing.\u2019<\/p>\n

Another reporting partner at the same region said on the phone on the same day, \u201cA military post and seven soldiers were swept away. Four dead bodies were found at Onsung County. If found at the Chinese side, the deaths are handed over after notification. But even there are many missing people, so few are found.\u201d<\/p>\n

On September 6, Korean Central News Agency released the news that 60 people are dead and 25 are missing because of this deluge. The damage by the flood in North Hamkyung Province seems serious based on the reports by ASIANPRESS reporters and the released news.<\/p>\n

However, although the authority says that the damage by flood is due to the heavy rain, some people insist that the damage grew bigger because of the authority\u2019s wrong response.<\/p>\n

Next page...<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A North Korean man rescued by Chinese Border Guard on September 1. They crossed the border and rescued 3 lives at the request of North Korea (Quoted from HP of China International Radio)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Aforementioned \u201cA\u201d said \u201cAccording to some local residents, the authority opened the flood gate to protect Seodusu power plant. Once one side was collapsed, the whole river bank was swept away. Because the bank was built only with rocks without cements.\u201d
\n\u203bSeodusu is the biggest stream in Tumen River area. It joins Tumen River at the joint of Daehongdan County in Yanggang Province and Musan County in North Hamkyung Province.<\/p>\n

Extraordinarily, Chinese put active efforts to rescue North Koreans from the flood damage. North Korean expressed their feeling about contrasting rescue activities by two countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Chinese authority searches people in the river by motorized boats, our people comb riverside to check whether anyone is hanged on river edge using just sticks. North Koreans are not looking for the Border Patrol, but waving toward the Chinese side for help.\u201d said reporting partner \u201cB,\u201d<\/p>\n

He also commented on lackadaisical response of North Korean government; the People\u2019s Committee and Worker\u2019s Party Committee didn\u2019t do anything at the time of flood. While the Chinese government mobilized helicopters, they just watched things carried away by the flood at the riverbank.<\/p>\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n

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A video footage that shows restoration work after the flood by seemingly citizens of Hoeryong City. Heavy equipments are not seen in the work for cleaning debris. (Quoted from Korean Central Television on September 11)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Irresponsibility of the authority seems to cause the spirit of worshipping Kim\u2019s family fall.<\/p>\n

Reporting partner \u201cB,\u201d let out pent-up anger, \u201cA woman took out Kim\u2019s portrait and escaped, having left her grandmother when the house was flooded. She might have been praised for rescuing the portrait before. But this time everyone severely blamed her. The regime seems totally indifferent to the people. They don\u2019t care whether people die or live. It says that four people were dead when they launched the missile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Damage restorations seem not so efficient. Reporting partner \u201cB\u201d covered the damage relief activities at the flooded area: \u201cStorm trooper organized at the county level by the Province Party is put on the restoration sites, which is to mend a barn after the horse is stolen. Damaged homes should be restored by the instruction (Kim Jong-un\u2019s), but the reality is severe due to shortage of material. As no relief stuff is not supplied (by the authority), Inminban (neighbor watch group) collects 500g of corn grains from each household and delivers them to the temporary shelters for the families who lost their homes.<\/p>\n

\u203b ASIAPRESS uses China-based phones to contact ASIAPRESS reporting partners inside North Korea.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"rimjingang_banner001\"<\/a>* Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a><\/a> <\/strong><\/span>
\nARCHIVE(pdf) >><\/a><\/span>
\n DPRK MAP >><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  2016\/Sept\/12 A huge flood deprived a lot of lives at Namyang Laborer District of Onsung County in North Korea. Bu\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7,12,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}