Aid agencies face the vast task of planning for a war in Iraq which could start within days, severely disrupting the food distribution system on which 16 million people are reliant.

Supplies bought in advance could make a huge difference for up to two million people expected to flee their homes, but donors are loathe to give money before bombing starts.

Fears of a humanitarian disaster are partly based on the precarious conditions that Iraqis currently live under.

More than half the country's 23 million people are under 15, a quarter of children under five are malnourished and 30% of babies are born at a low birth weight.

A quarter of Iraq's people have no access to clean drinking water, and UNICEF fears tens of thousands of children are so weak that diarrhoea caused by dirty water could kill them.

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The White House says "a tremendous effort" is being made to "minimise disruption" to the system.

In recent months the Iraqi Government has begun giving families two months' rations at a time to allow them to stockpile supplies.

But the UN Office for the Iraq Programme says that most households' reserves would last no more than six weeks, partly because some families are so poor they are selling their rations.
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'Embedded' with troops

The US is also stockpiling and pre-positioning nearly three million packs of daily food rations.

In addition, it has set up a 60-person team of civilian experts who in the event of war, would be "embedded in the military force", relying on troops to provide security for humanitarian work.

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