Canberra, AUSTRALIA, 16.10.08 – As the international community celebrates World Food Day East Timor is bracing for a new crisis. Oxfam Australia has sounded the alarm after it released a new report on the country’s food situation.

'We're now talking about people not having enough to eat, going to bed hungry every night, for about five months of the year'.

The survey found that more than 70 percent of households surveyed across East Timor were 'food insecure'.

The number of children under 5 suffering from chronic malnutrition was as high as 59 percent in many areas, while in some districts food insecurity touched 90 percent of households.

Overall malnutrition and hunger affect about one in two children under the age of five.

East Timor is one of only two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, the other being the Philippines. More than 40 per cent of its population of about a million people lives below the poverty line with less than US$ 0.55 per day.