Westport, Conn. (25 September 2008) —With tens of thousands of homes in Haiti destroyed by rising floodwaters and many Haitian children spending their days in emergency shelters, Save the Children is working to reach families with critical supplies and to provide displaced children with safe spaces to play and learn.

Save the Children, which has been providing programmess in the island nation since 1985, has established child-friendly areas and activities for hundreds of children in the Southeast city of Jacmel and will provide similar programs in the coming days in Gonaives, in the Artibonite province. The agency plans to establish numerous sites, providing emotional-support programmes and nutritious snacks, and ultimately helping ensure children return to school. The project is expected to reach 6,500 children.

“Children are very vulnerable after a disaster. Their lives have been turned upside-down,” said Lee Nelson, Save the Children’s country director in Haiti. “Still, we know from decades of experience that they are also very resilient and can benefit from a chance to play and express themselves through art, drama, music and sports. Safe play areas are critical to helping a child return to a sense of normalcy. These safe play areas also offer children a welcome respite from the adult difficulties that surround them in their flood-devastated country.”

Save the Children has distributed food to 1,500 people in the Artibonite. Over the last three weeks, the agency has provided fresh water, dry food rations, infant kits and household materials to over 5,300 families in Cabaret, an agricultural and market town near Port-au-Prince that has seen repeated flooding in recent days, . In addition, Save the Children is distributing infant kits containing bed sheets, bath towels, baby blankets,  diapers and other hygiene items, all packed in a useful plastic buckets, to another 1,300 families in hard-hit areas .

“We are working to meet immediate needs as well as anticipate long-term requirements for kids affected by these disasters,” said Nelson. “Thousands of Haitian children were living very precarious lives before the storms. Their health and well-being are in increasing jeopardy as flooding has exacerbated food shortages and forced children from their homes and schools, and further threatened their parents’ livelihoods.”

Haiti was struck by four tropical storms — Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike — from mid-August to early September. Seasonal downpours continue there, hampering relief and recovery and increasing the misery level for families.

How to help

If you wish to help children recover in Haiti, please contact your national Save the Children organisation.

Media Contacts

For more information please contact Kate Conradt on 01 202-640-6631.