ESTIMATION OF FLOOD DAMAGE TO RICE PRODUCTION IN NORTH-KOREA IN 1995

It was reported that western North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) suffered from heavy flooding due to unprecedented rainfall from July to August 1995. Many rivers reportedly flooded and rice plan ts in paddy fields were washed away by deluges, although details of da mage have not been reported outside North Korea. Through use of Landsa t Thematic Mapper (TM) data, the damage to paddy fields in western Nor th Korea was investigated. It was estimated that at least 2.75 x 10(5) ha of paddy fields, which corresponded to 42 per cent of the total ar ea of paddy fields in North Korea, were damaged by floods. The total r ice crop in western North Korea in 1995 was 2.21 x 10(5) metric tons, which was approximately 5.30 x 10(5) tons less than the total rice pro duction recorded in 1987.