Nairobi  - The Red Cross on Wednesday asked for more money to help deal with a worsening humanitarian crisis in drought-hit Southern Ethiopia.

"Over the past two months the situation has worsened and living conditions have deteriorated," Lorenzo Violante, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) drought operations manager for Ethiopia, said in a statement.

"People have exhausted all their resources and are unable to feed themselves," he added.

Aid agencies have long been warning of an impending disaster in Ethiopia and Somalia as well as parts of Kenya and Uganda as millions face food shortages.

Food prices have more than tripled in Ethiopia in the last year. Severe flooding in 2007 devastated crops and drought this year has exacerbated the situation.

The IFRC is appealing for 7.9 million dollars to support over 76,000 people - almost double the number originally being helped - severely affected by the crisis.

"There are more than 16,000 acutely malnourished children in (Southern Ethiopian villages) Damot Gale and Damot Pulasa," Fasika Kebede, Secretary General of the Ethiopian Red Cross, said.

"The situation can only deteriorate if we are not able to intervene efficiently," Kebede added. (dpa)