ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: A consortium of aid agencies expressed concern on Wednesday that a critical shortage of funding and broad international disinterest had left millions of flood-affected people at risk of illness, malnutrition and cold with winter about to begin.

The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, a group of 41 international aid agencies based in the country, said in a statement that after 100 days since the 2011 floods struck the country, particularly Sindh and Balochistan, millions of men, women and children needed vital assistance.

It appealed western governments for urgent donations to tackle the largely forgotten humanitarian crisis.

A UN appeal for $357 million in emergency funding made more than three months ago has been just 37 per cent funded, according to the UN, with donors saying that difficult economic conditions in their own countries prevented them from donating more.

According to the findings of the Multi-sector Needs Assessment, some 4.3 million flood affected people are food insecure, with their plight exacerbated by massive loss of food stocks and damage to standing crops. “Three months into the floods, people are still desperately struggling to meet their basic needs,” an official  said.