N Korea straining aid stocks
2004-04-28 09:33
Shanghai, China - North Korea made new pleas for help and thousands of rescuers rushed in food, medicine and tents as the victims of last week's train explosion struggled to stay clean and warm nearly a week after the disaster.
About 370 victims remained hospitalised, two-thirds of them children. Many suffered severe burns and eye injuries from the blast's shock wave of glass, rubble and heat. Many could lose sight in at least one eye, said Dr Eigil Sorensen of the World Health Organisation. He visited the blast site and nearby hospitals on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the North intensified its appeals for aid. Property damage from the explosion was estimated at US$356m, the official North Korean news agency KCNA said.
The death toll from Thursday's explosion stood at 161, including 76 children from one destroyed school. More than 1 300 people were injured, aid agencies said.
KCNA said many victims were left "deaf and blind" by the blast.
International aid agencies have put no price tag on reconstruction. The North's damage estimate far outweighs what donors have promised, fuelling speculation that Pyongyang is trying to gain as much aid as possible.
Meanwhile, thousands of people were living in tents without adequate sanitation or water, and a team of foreign aid workers visited Ryongchon on Wednesday to assess the situation.
Relief workers described people struggling to rebuild with their bare hands. Getting more food, blankets and medicine to the injured and homeless were urgent tasks, they said.
Hospitals lack even basic supplies, like intravenous drips needed to treat the many burn patients. WHO listed antibiotics, eye drops and burn kits as the greatest needs.
The United States, China, Australia and Japan have offered aid, and Germany said it would donate $119 000 to buy food and building materials. KCNA said Wednesday that a first instalment of Russian relief aid arrived - including medicine, tents and blankets.
Chronically short of fuel, electricity and food, North Korea has taken most of the aid, but it has been hesitant to accept help from South Korea.
The North rejected offers from the rival South to send doctors, but did ask the South to send building materials, bulldozers and diesel fuel, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.
A freighter set out on Wednesday bringing South Korea's first shipment of aid: $1m worth of medicines, blankets, underwear, instant noodles, bottled water and clothes.
The aid was expected to reach victims late on Thursday at the earliest because the shipment is to unload at Nampo, a port near the North's capital of Pyongyang. North Korea refused to let South Korean trucks cross the Demilitarised Zone that has separated the two Koreas for a half century.
North Korea's communist government relaxed its normal secrecy in seeking help after the disaster. It says the explosion occurred when workers knocked train cars carrying oil and chemicals against power lines.
- AP