UNITED NATIONS, April 27 (UPI) -- The U.N. World Food Program Tuesday called for urgent extra donations to feed thousands left injured or homeless by the North Korea rail blast.
WFP Regional Director for Asia Tony Banbury said, "this terrible tragedy" that has put a great deal of strain on the agency's already severely underfunded battle to feed 6.5 million long-term drought victims in North Korea.
Sunday, WFP delivered its first seven tons of high-energy biscuits, wheat and vegetable oil to Ryongchon near the Chinese border, where two train wagons of explosives for a construction site detonated at the station last Thursday, killing at least 161 people, injuring 1,300 more and destroying 1,850 homes.
Food was immediately distributed to 360 severely wounded, many of them children, receiving emergency treatment at the hospital. Remaining rations were provided to the estimated 7,000 people sheltering with friends or relatives and in undamaged public buildings.
WFP aims to supply at least 1,000 tons of food aid worth about $1 million to victims in the next 30 days and beyond, over and above its broader operations in North Korea.
