CONTACT: Amy Lynn O'Toole or Allen Clinton, 404-681-4579, ext. 383/206

ATLANTA (September 15, 1999) - With a harsh winter fast approaching, already embattled Kosovars face the risk of freezing due to inadequate fuel supplies and power plants. Much of Kosovo's infrastructure was neglected or severely damaged during the recent conflict, prompting concern and action by the international relief and development organization CARE, which is coordinating a program to distribute stoves, firewood and coal to vulnerable households.

"The situation mirrors that of Bosnia in recent years, where elderly people lived in high rise apartments without heat," explains Bob MacPherson, of CARE's Emergency Group. "Lacking mobility, these people suffered through the miserable cold alone in their apartments. We are trying to prevent that from happening again."

Even for those fortunate enough to have electricity or be connected to the central district's heating systems, warnings of power disruptions have been issued, as demand is expected to exceed supply. High rise apartments relying on the district's heating system have virtually no other heating sources, leaving elderly or disabled inhabitants particularly vulnerable to the cold.

CARE is planning to furnish stoves, firewood and coal to these residents where suitable. CARE also will assess the state of existing energy supplies, with the goal of revitalizing long-neglected and damaged power plants and coal mines.

"Further complicating Kosovo's strained fuel reserves is the abundance of unexploded land mines, especially along the Albanian border," notes MacPherson, who recently returned from Kosovo. "Firewood is the predominant heating fuel for Kosovo's villages but with land mines effectively blocking access to one-fifth of the forested land, many farming families and others living in rural areas are unable to collect firewood as they are accustomed to doing. As a result, affected families must rely on alternative, more expensive, means of obtaining fuel that they cannot afford."

To help meet the need, CARE is coordinating a program to distribute firewood and coal. Wood and coal burning stoves will be distributed to the most vulnerable - those living in severely damaged houses, families whose stoves were stolen or destroyed during the conflict and rural people cut off from fuel wood sources by land mines.

ABOUT CARE
CARE is one of the world's largest relief and development organizations responding to the complex problem of reducing global poverty. CARE works in more than 60 countries worldwide and in 1998, touched the lives of more than 35 million people in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America.

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