UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- UN food agency warned on Friday that poor rains and following floods in Somalia may worsen the country's food crisis, a UN spokesman said.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued the warning that an estimated 1 million people are now in urgent need of assistance, said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric at a daily briefing.
The number has grown by 20 percent in just six months, the FAO said, adding that another 2 million people in Somalia are experiencing food security threats.
The FAO also said the current situation is worse than any pre- famine period in the past.
The 2010-2012 famine in Eastern Africa killed nearly 260,000 people, and more than half of them are children under the age of five, according to FAO statistics.