After Typhoon Maysak ravaged Hamgyong province and left behind significant damage last week, more than 300,000 citizens from Pyongyang volunteered to help out, North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday.

In a state-sponsored propaganda campaign, everyday North Koreans also responded enthusiastically to Kim Jong Un’s rare and recent “open letter.” The letter came to light in state media on Sunday and called for 12,000 “elite” members of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) to be “dispatched” to Hamgyong. Kim Jong Un, following his visit to the typhoon-stricken Hamgyong province and learning about how over 1,000 dwellings were destroyed, had urgently asked party members in Pyongyang on Sunday to aid the province.