VOA常速英语2007-UN: North Korean Flood Victims Need Emergency Ai

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
18 October 2007

The United Nations Children's Fund says hundreds of thousands of flood victims in North Korea are in a fragile state and need emergency assistance. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva that UNICEF says food, water, medicine and shelter are priority needs.

In the past two months, North Korea has been hit by two waves of floods. In August, more than one million people were affected¹. The floods killed 600 people, left 170,000 homeless, and destroyed about 10 percent of North Korea's agricultural land.

The U.N. Children's Fund says a second flood at the end of September washed away many roads, bridges and other infrastructure² that had been rebuilt after the August disaster.

UNICEF Representative in North Korea, Michel Le Pechoux, says his agency is looking into the nutritional³ status of children under age five in 19 flood-affected counties. He says 70 percent of the homeless families live in these areas.

"What we are really trying to do is go to the areas that have been affected," he said. "Through this rapid screening identify the children who require rehabilitation⁴, nutritional rehabilitation and also measure how much the floods have affected the nutritional status in those areas."

Le Pechoux says North Korea is in a fragile state. But, he says there has been a noticeable and welcome change in the attitude of the government toward international agencies. And, this, he says is making it easier to distribute aid.

"I think the environment in which we work is getting better, and I think the situation for children is improving, though there are a lot of challenges that remain," he said.

The last U.N. nutritional survey in 2004 found that 37 percent of young children in North Korea were chronically⁵ malnourished and 23 percent were underweight.

Le Pechoux says this is high, but says these rates are similar to those found in countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Burma.

And he says it is an improvement compared to the situation in North Korea some 10 years ago. Then, he says, more than 60 percent of children under five were chronically malnourished and underweight.

"That said, the malnutrition⁶ is still high and the situation is fragile because DPRK [Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea] is a country that is struggling to be self-sufficient," said Le Pechoux. "And, the fact that a lot of agricultural land has been affected is of serious concern to all U.N. agencies in DPRK."

But the UNICEF official says he believes North Korea has a good chance of overcoming these problems. He says the country has better coping mechanisms⁷ now than 10 years ago when it emerged from an economic crisis linked to the collapse⁸ of the Soviet⁹ Union.

He says most of the $14 million appeal for flood relief has been met.

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

2 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

3 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。

4 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

5 chronically   

ad.长期地

参考例句：

• Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样，凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。
• People chronically exposed to chlorine develop some degree of tolerance. 人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。

6 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

7 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

9 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。