North Koreans cut off, freezing to death

[Soldier4Christ]

North Koreans cut off, freezing to death
1 of harshest winters in years has exposed callous misrule of Stalinist state

The men who finally made it into the remote highland village of Koogang were greeted by an eerie silence and a gruesome sight.

Lying among the simple wooden huts and burnt remnants of wooden furniture, they found the bodies of 46 North Korean villagers, including women and children, all of whom had frozen to death. Cut off from the outside world by one of the harshest winters in many years, the villagers had suffered a macabre fate that has exposed both the desperate poverty and callous misrule blighting the Stalinist state.

More than 300 people are thought to have perished from cold so far this winter in North Korea's mountainous north, victims of temperatures as low as -30C and of an arrogant ruling clique.

"Nobody got out of the trap alive," said an official at the Chinese embassy in the capital, Pyongyang, who confirmed the events of Koogang. "After heavy snowfalls, there was a severe frost. The inhabitants were doomed."

In a country notorious for its secretiveness, the regime of President Kim Jong-il has made no mention of the deaths. As the rest of the population struggle to stay warm, 50,000 members of his ruling elite continue to live in splendid isolation in a compound in central Pyongyang – enjoying the benefits of hot water, central heating and satellite television.

Elsewhere in the city, though, the scene could have been lifted from the pages of a Charles Dickens novel. The air is thick with the smell of coal dust, as families light fires on the floors of their apartments to keep out the bitter, cold winds that blow south from Siberia.

Outside Pyongyang, the situation is yet more desperate. A six-mile drive from the city, poor farmers trudge through the snow with bundles of brushwood on their backs.

A massive process of deforestation, begun in the 1990s by Kim Jong-il's father and predecessor, Kim il Sung, has resulted in huge swathes of forest being chopped down to clear land for farming. The disastrous policy led to large-scale soil erosion, believed by many to have been a leading cause of mass famine of the 1990s, when up to three million people starved to death.

It has made the bitter winter, when the temperature in the capital routinely falls to -13C, even more dangerous as the rural poor struggle to gather enough firewood to sustain them.

The inhabitants of Koogang, around 200 miles north-east of the capital, set fire to tables and chairs, even tearing down the wood from their own homes in a desperate attempt to keep warm.

The World Food Programme estimates that North Korea will be 900,000 tons short of the amount of food needed to feed its 23 million population this year. Aid efforts have been complicated by sanctions, imposed after Kim Jong-il's regime carried out a nuclear test in October last year. Last week, the country held negotiations with US diplomats aimed at re-starting six-party peace talks, which also include China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

Christopher Hill, America's chief envoy at the talks in Berlin, signalled progress, saying that the US looked forward "to establishing a normal relationship with North Korea".

But while there may be signs of a thaw in the country's frosty relationship with the West, in Pyongyang there is no respite from the sub-zero temperatures.

The electricity supply is notoriously unreliable and as evening falls the city streets are plunged into darkness.

The only constant source of light is the giant illuminated copper statue of Kim il Sung on a hill top overlooking the city – cold comfort for those living through the bleak North Korean mid-winter.

[Soldier4Christ]

Snow warning as cold spell bites

People are being advised to keep warm, well-fed and take sensible precautions as the coldest snap of the winter so far begins to bite across Britain.

The drop in temperatures comes after the first three weeks of the New Year were officially recognised as the mildest since records began almost 350 years ago.

Keith Fenwick, a Met Office forecaster, said: "It doesn’t mean to say January is going to be a record because in stark contrast the weather’s becoming colder."

 Gales which battered the country last week have given way to frost, sleet, snow and freezing overnight conditions. Motorists were stranded when a sudden snowstorm swept parts of north-west England and the Peak district on Sunday night.

Drivers had to use mobile phones to call for help as the Snake and Woodhead passes became cut off by snow and police had to use 4x4 patrols to reach them.

Between one and two centimetres of snow is forecast in the eastern counties tonight, affecting Norfolk and possibly Suffolk. It is expected to fall on the western side tomorrow including Cumbria, Wales and possibly the south-west.

Later in the week it will return to the south-east with East Anglia, Kent and Sussex all facing the prospect of snow into Friday.

Although daytime temperatures are now normal for the time of year at around 5C, many people are complaining about the cold.

The chill factor may be greater tomorrow with a drop of another degree or so accompanied by biting north-easterly winds in many places.

Gritting lorries are on standby throughout the country and road users warned that even moderate snowfalls could cause disruption in low temperatures.

The current cold spell is expected to continue throughout the week.

[Soldier4Christ]

 UN announces $50,000 grant for cold victims

          The agencies of the United Nations (UN) are working with non-government organisations (NGOs) to help Bangladeshi authorities respond to a cold snap that has killed more than 130 people and affected at least 100,000 others since early this month, reports BSS.
A UN press release said the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced Monday that it has released a cash grant of $50,000 to the UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh to provide warm clothes for the people living in affected areas. Bangladesh has already given out 75,000 blankets to the poor in northern areas and around in the capital.
The homeless have been among the hardest hit during the current cold wave, which has damaged crops, disrupted communications and transport and spread diseases, especially among children and the elderly.
Meteorological forecasts have predicted there could be two more moderate to severe cold spells during the next two weeks.
Already three districts in the north have recorded temperatures of 5 degrees Celsius, the lowest levels in 38 years.

[Soldier4Christ]

 City remain in grip of cold weather

         LAHORE, Pakistan     City remained in the grip of cold weather with mercury once again dropping to freezing point in the city.
         Relative humidity in the morning was recorded at 70 per cent and in the evening at 25 per cent.
         Cold and dry weather has also been forecast for all other parts of the province including Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Lahore divisions.
          Mainly dry weather has been forecast for Sargodha, Faisalabad, D G  Khan,Multan and Bahawalpur divisions.

[Soldier4Christ]

As we can see it is not just the U.S. that is experiencing an unusual cold snap. It is happening world wide. Qatar, although at 50 degrees F, is experiencing temps that are 30 to 40 degrees lower than normal.

I still ask, where is global warming.   

[Shammu]

I still ask, where is global warming.   

In the brains of those who don't believe, Jesus is the savior God sent to this planet.