Recent heavy rainfall in North Korea's northern regions has caused considerable human losses and property damage, a Seoul-based media report said Thursday, citing sources in North Korea.

Kim Seong-min, representative of Free North Korea Radio, said the torrential downpour and ensuing landslides earlier this week hit residential areas and farmlands in the country's North Hamgyong and Ryanggang provinces, leaving people dead and homes destroyed.

But the North Korean authorities have not been able to carry out effective relief efforts, Kim said.
He said, that at 11 a.m. on Monday, a five-floor apartment building in Hyesan city, Ryanggang Province, collapsed when a landslide caused the structure to collapse. He claimed some 80 people may be trapped in the building.

Kim also said that he heard from a North Korean source that many areas of Chongjin city in North Hamgyong Province were submerged by heavy rainfall, with people drowning and being swept away by the flood water.

Human losses have also occurred in the cities of Onsong and Musan, North Hamgyong Province, according to other sources.

Intelligence officials here in Seoul said they are confirming the exact number of human losses and the extent of flood damage in the North. (Yonhap)