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FROM THE FIELD

Save the Children to fly aid into Chad

29 Jun 2007 09:00:00 GMT
Source: International Save the Children Alliance

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Young Girl in Chad. A young girl carrying water at an IDP Camp near Koukou. Repeated attacks on villages in eastern Chad have forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. Many more resources are needed from international donors and governments to respond to this growing crisis. Chad is rated 171 out of 177 according to UNDP’s 2006 Human Development Report and is therefore considered one of the poorest countries in the world; an estimated 80% of the population lives on less than $1 a day. Save the Children plans to reach a total of 40,000 children in eastern Chad, working in particular in the IDP (Internally Displaced Person) sites of Aradib, Habile and Dogdore. (Copyright: Save the Children UK)
Internally Displaced Persons

Background

• Darfur conflict

• Sudan conflicts

• W. African food crisis

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On Friday (29 June) Save the Children UK will be sending an aid flight carrying vital supplies to Chad to help children and families forced to flee their homes due to violence in the Darfur border region.

As the rainy season draws ever closer, the charity is facing a race against time before roads are completely cut off and access to people living in camps becomes even more difficult.

The DC8 aeroplane will be carrying 45 tonnes of relief supplies including enough heavy duty tarpaulins to provide shelter for 5,000 families and more than 3,500 blankets. Creating a decent shelter to keep warm and dry before the rains arrive is one of the top priorities for families living in camps for refugees and those displaced within Chad.

Save the Children's Emergencies Advisor Dominique Porteaud, who has just returned from Chad, said: "We know we are facing a real race against time to get shelter to these people before the rains arrive in a couple of weeks and make our job twice as hard, which is why we took the decision to fly this vital equipment in as soon as possible. Children in Chad need our help now - time is running out."

The flight will contain communications and office equipment to allow Save the Children to continue expanding its operations in Chad. An emergency logistician who will join the existing team in Abeché will also be on board.

The flight will depart from Ostend airport in Belgium, which is the closest airport to Save the Children's emergency supplies warehouse, at 16.30 and will arrive in N'DJamena, Chad, at 03.30 local time.

-Ends-

Notes to Editors

Save the Children plans to reach a total of 40,000 children in eastern Chad. We will be working in the IDP sites of Aradib, Habile and Dogdore where children and families have been without asic supplies for many weeks. Malnutrition levels are already rising in some areas and education facilities are almost non-existent.
Save the Children fights for vulnerable children in the UK and around the World who suffer from poverty, disease, injustice and violence, working with them to find lifelong answers to the problems they face.

For more information please contact

Save the Children UK press office: 020 7012 6844
Email address: media@savethechildren.org.uk

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Last updated:Fri Jun 29 15:41:33 2007