The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on Friday said close to 1.2 million people were affected by over a week of torrential rain in Central America.

The WFP also said it was "very concerned" about both the immediate and long-term impact on food security this latest natural disaster has on many of the region's poorest, who have already been severely affected by rising food prices.

"This region is unfortunately very vulnerable to these kind of disasters," a WFP spokesman told Xinhua.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA) said in a new nine-page report that UN agencies and relief organizations at this point had registered 1,167,116 people as affected in Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

As many as one million people may require long-term assistance, OCHA said.

As of Friday, total death toll in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico and Costa Rica had climbed to 118, according to official figures from disaster prevention authorities in the countries.

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