Landslides and flooding in Honduras have affected an estimated 320,000 people, wiped out almost half the crops and prompted the government to declare a state of emergency.

Aid workers say it's the worst disaster since Hurricane Mitch, which killed more than 5,000 people when it slammed into the Central American county in 1998.

Yet scan the newspapers or internet and you'll be hard pressed to find any reports.

Admittedly, the world media has been focussed on the American elections and global credit crunch, but this isn't the only reason behind the silence.

Christian Aid says the lack of attention is partly because the flooding in Honduras has been a slow developing disaster caused by weeks of sustained rain brought on by a tropical depression. A sudden hurricane hit would have probably attracted more coverage.

Yet this disaster shows depressions can be every bit as devastating.

"This is the worst flooding Honduras has experienced since Hurricane Mitch 10 years ago," says Erwin Garzona, Christian Aid's emergencies officer for Central and South America.

"The impact is worse than Hurricane Felix in 2007 or Hurricane Bertha in 2004, but there has been little media coverage, partly because this situation is caused by continuous heavy rainfall rather than a dramatic hurricane strike."

The low death toll is probably another factor in the lack of coverage. Thanks to lessons learned from Hurricane Mitch, many Honduran communities now have better early warning and evacuation systems which have probably saved many lives.

Around 40 people have died so far - a tiny fraction of the number killed by Mitch. But aid workers say the geographical extent of this year's disaster is worse than in 1998. Only one of Honduras's 18 provinces has escaped unscathed.

Tens of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes, and many communities can only be reached by boat, hampering relief efforts. Aid agencies warn that Honduras will face serious food shortages for many months after the rains destroyed up to half this year's crops.

Garzona says the international response had been surprisingly slow - a fact he believes is due in part to the lack of media coverage. Another factor is the aid world's focus on the Pakistan earthquake which struck on Oct. 29 as the Honduran disaster was escalating.

U.N. agencies and their partners have launched a $17 million flash appeal for Honduras to provide food, shelter, health care, water and sanitation. But just 8.8 per cent of this has been funded so far.

The U.N. Central Emergency Response Fund, which was partly set up to plug the gaps for overlooked emergencies, has released a $1.5 million grant.

"The international community has been very slow considering the impact. The number affected is high - not as high as Mitch, but it is high," Garzona says.

The disaster has been exacerbated by the large number of landslides caused by widespread deforestation which has become much worse in the last decade, he says.

Landslides have long-term effects because villagers cannot replant crops and rebuild homes when the rains subside. But Garzona says deforestation is a hard problem to tackle because much of it is illegal and there is a high level of corruption.

Some aid workers say the level of poverty in Honduras has also increased since Mitch, meaning more people are building homes on land that is marginal and prone to flooding.

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