LONDON, Dec 9: Britain's Prince Charles urged the world not to forget the victims of floods that hit Pakistan more than three months ago, saying their suffering was being overlooked.

The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF), a network of the 41 largest international charities, says more than five million people were affected by the natural disaster.

Around 700,000 people remain displaced, at least six million acres were ravaged and 2.3 million acres of crops lost, the forum said last month.

Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, hosted a dinner on Thursday night for the Pakistan Recovery Fund (PRF) at the Natural History Museum in London.The prince said: “Despite the scale of devastation, the level of suffering and the level of need, the story seems to vanish all too quickly from the headlines as the world's attention turns to disaster and destruction elsewhere.

Yet the suffering in Pakistan goes on.”

Prince Charles, 63, is patron of the PRF, which seeks funding for community-based initiatives to help resolve the crisis. The prince and his wife Camilla visited Pakistan in 2006.

Suniya Qureshi, executive director of the British Pakistan Foundation, said the cricket corruption scandal had contributed to poor public opinion of Pakistan in Britain.

However, the 'misbehaviour' of a few should not detract attention from the needs of the rest of the population.

She said that Prince Charles was “highlighting the plight of 187 million people”.—AFP