ISLAMABAD: More than 3.4 million children in Pakistan are facing chronic hunger, with an estimated 76,000 children in flood-hit areas now experiencing acute food shortages and at the risk of severe malnutrition, Save the Children has said.

Earlier this week Pakistan and the United Nations jointly launched a humanitarian appeal of $816 million, revising it up five-fold from $160 million, as water-borne diseases and fear of growing hunger pose new dangers after weeks of unprecedented flooding in the South Asian nation that has left 33 million people struggling to survive.

Hundreds of children have died in the deluge that has devastated large parts of Pakistan’s southern provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, either drowned as waters flooded homes or struck by diseases, some of them water-borne.

According to official figures, 632 of the 1,700 killed so far in the floods have been children. In the aftermath, as flood waters begin to recede, which officials say may take two to six months, the regions have become infested with diseases including malaria, dengue fever, diarrhea and skin problems.

“The number of people going hungry has soared by an alarming 45 percent since floods wreaked havoc across much of the country, rising from 5.96 million people before the floods hit to 8.62 million people now facing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity – the majority of them in flood-affected regions,” Save the Children said in a statement, warning that hunger levels were expected to rise further with the onset of winter, putting millions of young lives at risk if urgent action was not taken.

The floods have devastated crops and livestock and, with goods scarce, prices have sources in Pakistan. The cost of basic food items has spiked since the floods, making them unaffordable for many families scrambling to survive after losing their homes and incomes.

“New research to be published next week by Save the Children found that 86 percent of families surveyed have lost their incomes since the floods, leaving them unable to afford food,” the statement added.

On Thursday, Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said about 50 percent of the water had receded in the country’s worst-hit southern Sindh province, hoping that farmers would be able to sow wheat in a first step toward returning to normal life.

The government estimates damages caused by the floods, that have swept away homes, roads, bridges and livestock, are at least $30 billion.