The Public Distribution System had been closed since April because it had run out of food, and much of the population of were not receiving regular allocations of food from last year's harvest. These included cakes or noodles made from cabbage stalks, cornstalks and grasses or seaweed, ground up with cereal. Fed especially to the elderly and the very young, they are causing major digestive problems. Red Cross representative Jon Valfells commented that because many people remained in their homes, the famine's effects were not highly visible. The striking thing about this famine is that it's not occurring in the way that African famines unfold.
People tend to be ashamed of being hungry and are staying at home.
You don't have large-scale population movements between different parts of the country. People stay in their own province or locale. They hope for the best. But the statistics on the levels of malnutrition are staggering. Every age group is suffering from malnutrition although the statistics for children are more widely available and publicised.