WESTPORT, Conn. (May 22, 2009) — Save the Children is directing its humanitarian relief effort to assisting displaced children and their families who are living outside of camps and who comprise the majority of people forced to flee fighting in the Swat Valley.

About 1.5 million people have made the difficult trek to safety since the beginning of the month. This brings the total number of people displaced from the restive region since August 2008 to over 2 million — about 1.2 million of them children.

The agency has provided more than 10,000 people with essential supplies — including a water bucket.

Although 25 displacement camps have been established since the exodus began, more than 80 percent of people fleeing — the majority of them children — have sought refuge away from those sites. They have little access to services provided at camps and are attempting to fend for themselves far away from home. As the crisis wears on, their situation is growing more fragile.

"Families have taken shelter with relatives or are renting meager accommodations in villages where they have few resources and little social support," said Ned Olney, who leads Save the Children's international humanitarian response efforts. "They are living in cramped and increasingly unhealthy conditions — sometimes with more than 20 people living in a small mud house. Without the means to earn a living, they cannot support themselves or their children. Their impoverished hosts also are facing greater deprivation."

Displacement Is Particularly Difficult for Women-headed Households

"Our staff report that many women from this region lack national identification cards and so cannot register for any assistance," said Olney. "Without a husband or male relative, they are essentially invisible — and their children even more vulnerable."

Working primarily outside of camps, Save the Children is assisting separated children, women-headed households, families with children under 5 or pregnant women, and families that include an injured or chronically ill family member.

This young girl's family received a hygiene kit from Save the Children.

The agency has provided more than 10,000 people, among them 6,000 children, with essential supplies — including a water bucket, flashlight, cooking and eating utensils, sleeping mats, soap, toothbrushes and washcloths. Save the Children also has provided medical assistance to more than 3,100 people.

Save the Children has worked in Pakistan for more than 30 years — helping improve the lives and well-being of Afghan refugees and Pakistani children and women through health, education and emergency response programs.

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