Save the Children Distributes Supplies to Children and Families Seeking Refuge from Ethnic Violence in Southern Kyrgyzstan

OSH, Kyrgyzstan (June 20, 2010) - Save the Children is distributing relief supplies to families caught up in the wave of hostilities in southern Kyrgyzstan.

Save the Children yesterday provided hygiene kits and bulk supplies to 400 families - some barricaded in their neighborhoods and others living in temporary shelters - in the city of Osh. Today the organization plans to reach another 300 families and expects additional supplies to arrive overland from Tajikistan.

"Trucks of aid are arriving and local Kyrgyz are reaching out to those in need, but it is not yet the pipeline of relief required to alleviate this humanitarian crisis," said Will Lynch, Save the Children's Central Asia country director. "The damage is far greater than official estimates. Hundreds of thousands of people are on the move. And children are at risk."

Ethnic fighting has destroyed parts of the cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad and has driven an estimated 400,000 people from their homes. Some 100,000 of them - primarily children, women and the elderly - are now refugees in neighboring Uzbekistan.

Save the Children, one of few international humanitarian agencies working in Kyrgyzstan, has been in the region since 1992. All staff are accounted for and currently safe.

For more information, please contact Kate Conradt on: +1 202 294 700