Kyrgyzstan 2010

An ethnic Uzbek refugee, fled from clashes in Osh, holds her child. Photo Credit: REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov/Courtesy of www.alertnet.org.

Since June 2010, Save the Children has been distributing relief supplies to families caught up in the wave of hostilities in southern Kyrgyzstan. Ethnic fighting destroyed parts of the cities of Osh and Jalalabad and has driven an estimated 400,000 people from their homes. The situation has somewhat settled but remains uneasy in Osh and Jalalabad.

• Save the Children’s emergency assistance program has reached more than 250,000 people — many of them refugees to Uzbekistan — with food, non-food aid items, protection, rubble removal and livelihoods assistance.
• Procurement to replace destroyed assets is underway and will help 100 small-scale entrepreneurs revive their businesses in Osh. Save the Children has already provided 51 businesses with the basic equipment and supplies needed to restart their activities.
• Our food aid program has reached 213,512 children and adults.
• To date, more than 2,900 families (approximately 14,480 people, including 8,669 children) have received packs of essential non-food items. Packs have included items, including: tents, cooking kits, mattresses, blankets, jerry cans, plastic sheeting and diapers.
• 16 child-friendly spaces are open and functioning in the provinces of Osh and Jalal-Abad serving a total of 2,890 children who are now attending activities at the spaces consistently.
• As the cold weather approaches, Save the Children is also supporting the construction of self-help winterized transitional shelters in Osh and Bazar Korgon.

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.

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