North Korea battered by tidal wave

North Korean officials say that more than eighty people died and severe damage to crops, food stocks and infrastructure occurred when torrential rains, a tidal wave and mud slides hit the eastern coastal province of Kangwon a week ago.

The United Nations humanitarian coordination office in Pyongyang said more than ten thousand people were made homeless in the disaster.

A spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross told the BBC that in the city of Wonsan rescuers were seen digging through rubble with their bare hands.

He said there was an urgent need for shelter, water purification tablets and containers and he expressed concern that the attention of the international community was focused elsewhere at this time. North Korea is already facing serious food shortages -- for the seventh successive year.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

*** PROBLEM: MORE THAN 28 WORDS IN SUMNARY ***