At least 100 people are believed dead or missing and 9,000 are homeless after typhoon rains caused severe flooding and landslides in North Korea, wiping out whole villages, the International Red Cross said Tuesday.
"In some remote areas, whole villages have been swept away and essential public services, such as healthcare clinics, have been destroyed," said Jaap Timmer, the head of North Korean operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
"There has also been widespread damage to roads and bridges, which has left many people displaced or stranded," he said in a statement. The typhoon, which first struck on July 14, has totally or partially destroyed over 11,500 houses, the Red Cross said.
It has also destroyed out vast swathes of farmland - a major blow, because the secretive communist nation's people have long had to rely on international food handouts after previous failed harvests.
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