A snapshot of the Consolidated Appeal for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for 2000

How much is required?
Total of US$ 331.7 million for:
Food Security: US$ 303.6 million;
Health & Nutrition: US$ 21.3 million;
Water & Sanitation: US$ 4.3 million;
Education: US$ 930,000;
Coordination: US$ 1.5 million

WHERE IS IT HAPPENING?

  • The humanitarian crisis in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is the result of the termination of the country's historic trading relationships with the ex-Soviet Union and socialist Eastern Europe which led to a severe industrial depression in a predominantly industrial country. The fall in industrial production and export earnings soon affected an industrialized agricultural sector, which along with a series of natural disasters resulted in food security levels plunging to unforeseen depths.
  • While the humanitarian situation is considered to have improved since the 1996-97 peak of the crisis, thousands of children remain malnourished as a result of food shortages, poor sanitation, lack of essential medicines, the prevalence of communicable diseases and lack of access to safe water. The ability of vulnerable groups to survive and improve their conditions still relies to a great extent on the humanitarian aid being provided by the international community since 1995.
  • DPRK has as neighbours the Republic of Korea (South) and the People's Republic of China (North).

WHAT IS OUR COMMON HUMANITARIAN ACTION PLAN?

  • To (a) avert famine, provide a nutritional safety net and support efforts to increase food production; (b) improve access to health services, immunization, safe water and basic hygiene supplies, particularly for women and children; (c) strengthen linkages between emergency operations and rehabilitation and development programmes; and (d) ensure a safe environment for all humanitarian operations.

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR CONSTRAINTS WE FACE?

  • Restriction on access & insecurity: due to the lack of a peace accord on the Korean peninsula which has hindered relief agencies from undertaking humanitarian assessments such as a country wide Nutritional Survey during 1999.
  • Restrictions on basic conditions for humanitarian operations: have improved due to increased understanding of the humanitarian principles and modus operandi by government officials, but additional progress is required to ensure effective targeting and monitoring of relief aid.

Poor funding for activities aiming at supporting rehabilitation and development efforts affect the sustainability of emergency interventions.

WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO ACHIEVE?

  • Improve the capacity of the DPRK to address the existing and emerging immediate and rehabilitation needs of its populations, particularly in the areas of food, health, water, sanitation and education.
  • Reduce mortality rates, malnutrition and food insecurity by (a) providing food aid, particularly to vulnerable groups such as orphans, children, pregnant and nursing women, hospital patients and the elderly, (b) supporting intensified food production, (c) improving local capacity to ensure water quality and (c) increasing the immunization coverage among children under five years and women of child bearing age against preventable diseases.
  • Increase access to education and educational material, and the rehabilitation of schools.
  • Assist the Government to increase its preparedness for natural disasters.
  • Reinforce the capacity of the humanitarian community to address promptly and effectively emergency situations.
  • Ensure a secure environment for humanitarian operations.

WHAT HAPPENS IF WE DO NOT GET THE RESOURCES?

  • Humanitarian agencies would be severely restricted in their attempts to address the immediate needs of some 6.3 million people estimated to survive in extremely vulnerable conditions.
  • Relief agencies would lose the opportunity to decrease the rate of acute malnutrition among women and children estimated at 16%. They would also be unable to reduce the number of low birth weight babies.
  • Populations would not be able to count on the support of relief agencies to improve household food security including food production and access to primary health care and immunization.

Please find more information on the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals for 2000 at http://www.reliefweb.int/appeals