Winter temperatures and high humidity are endangering the lives of thousands of children and their families whose homes have been destroyed by the Peru earthquake, warns children's charity Save the Children.

The charity's emergency response team, which arrived in the country last night, is reporting that 80-100% of housing in the worst affected areas around Pisco and Chincha Alta has been demolished by the quake. Up to one million people live in the area, and may have been affected.

As temperatures drop at night, the high humidity levels make the air cold and wet, and families are struggling to survive with no shelter and few blankets. Thousands are sleeping in the open air, forced to scavenge for firewood in an attempt to keep warm. Lack of food, clean water and medical supplies is posing a major threat.

"The conditions on the ground are horrific," says Richard Hartill, Save the Children UK's South America Programme Director, who is currently in Lima. "Children are spending nights in extremely cold temperatures, having lost their homes, their clothes, their food - everything. The full extent of the damage is not yet known, but entire communities have been cut off from urgently needed medical supplies, food and water. There are still people stuck under the rubble, and the longer families are left in the cold without blankets and shelter, the bigger the death toll."

450 people are confirmed dead, but Save the Children are concerned numbers will rise steeply in the upcoming days. Severe damage to roads and to landline and mobile networks is still hampering rescue efforts, with little reliable information available from a large part of the affected region as to the extent of the devastation.

Today Save the Children is sending two assessment teams out to assess the damage and the needs of children. The first team is going to Pisco, where continuing tremors are still traumatising children. In addition to having to sleep in the cold, many have also been separated from their families during the chaos, and are extremely vulnerable to abuse due to growing disorder in the city.

The second team is heading for the rural areas around Ica. Here Save the Children is concerned that highly toxic chemicals such as cyanide, used by families working in small silver and limestone mines, may have contaminated water supplies.

The magnitude 8.0 quake struck at 6:40 p.m. local time on Wednesday with an epicentre about 90 miles southeast of the capital, Lima. It was followed by two large aftershocks of magnitude 6 and 6.3.

Save the Children is accepting donations for Peru via the Save the Children UK website www.savethechildren.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• Save the Children has been working in Peru since 1980.

• For interviews with Save the Children workers in Peru or in London, and for more information please contact:
  Save the Children UK Press Office:
  Phone: +44 (0)207 012 6841
  

  Mobile: +44 7831 650 409
  Email: media@savethechildren.org.uk