North Korea has begun full-scale preparations for "serious floods" expected this summer, a global humanitarian group said Friday.

The country's meteorological department has shared its predictions of serious floods with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and some other aid agencies abroad, according to IFRC.

The North's Red Cross, supported by IFRC, held a two-day pre-disaster meeting in Pyongyang last week with the nation's relevant authorities, it added.

"The DPRK flood response plan has been reviewed and updated in the meeting" starting Wednesday, Francis Markus, a Beijing-based spokesman for IFRC, said in an email to Yonhap News Agency. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

In flood-prone areas, local early warning systems are being simulated, he added.

A shipment of non-food items such as tents and blankets from the Iranian Red Crescent is on its way to the North, said Markus.

IFRC is the world's largest humanitarian organization, with 189 members.

Among this year's budget of US$5.6 million for projects in North Korea, the largest portion, $1.9 million, has been allocated to disaster prevention. (Yonhap)