South Korea has decided to dispatch a disaster relief team to Laos this weekend and provide $1 million worth of emergency assistance, as the country is reeling from flash floods triggered by heavy rains and a dam collapse, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday.
The Korea Disaster Relief Team, comprised of 15 medics and five supporting staff, is to leave for the Southeast Asian nation on Sunday.
The government will provide $500,000 in cash and $500,000 worth of materials to help Laos recover from the disaster that swept away villages in the southeast of the country.
(Yonhap)
The items, including blankets, sanitation kits and some other necessities, will be delivered on Saturday to the country by South Korea's military cargo aircraft.
On the corporate side, Korean Air Lines Co. sent 36,000 liters of mineral water and 2,000 blankets through a flight from Incheon to Danang, Vietnam, that arrived around 2 p.m. Friday, the national flag carrier said in a statement.
From Danang, the relief supplies will be delivered to the affected Attapeu province in Laos, it said.
The flooding killed more than two dozen people and around 130 others are still unaccounted for, according to local news reports.
A dam built on a mountain saddle in a hydropower dam construction project gave way on Monday. SK Engineering & Construction, a South Korean firm, is a partner in the project. (Yonhap)