WESTPORT, Conn. (April 8, 2009) — Save the Children’s emergency experts are working in central Italy, where a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck in early Monday morning and displaced tens of thousands of people from their homes.

Save the Children team members are coordinating with local authorities in L’Aquila, the mountain city near the epicenter of the quake. They also are speaking to children and families as they assess their most urgent needs — among them ensuring that children are protected and have places to play in shelters and that they can return to school as soon as possible.

“With about 70,000 people forced from their homes and with large aftershocks continuing, children are very vulnerable. They are sleeping in the open, in cars or in crowded shelters. And they are telling our staff that they are afraid,” said Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children. “It is critical that we provide for their unique emotional and physical needs and help them find some normalcy in this very chaotic situation.”

All 412 schools in the affected area are closed. Save the Children staff estimate that there are approximately 46,000 school-age children and about 5,000 children between the ages of 0–3 in the affected areas.

“We know from experience that life in a shelter or camp can be very difficult for children, especially for infants and toddlers,” said MacCormack. “Parents who have to run for their lives are rarely able to bring the food and hygiene items that their young children need. Shelters, meanwhile, address very basic needs but often lack adequate facilities for bathing children or safe places for them to play.”

Save the Children expects to establish psychosocial support programs for children as well as establish family tracing systems for children separated from their families. The agency also will provide support so that schools can reopen as soon as possible.

Save the Children is the leading independent organization creating lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world. For more than 75 years, Save the Children has been helping children survive and thrive by improving their health, education and economic opportunities and, in times of acute crisis, mobilizing rapid lifesaving assistance to help children recover from the effects of war, conflict and natural disasters.