CONTACT: Susan Aitkin, (404) 681-2552, ext. 203
Pristina, KOSOVO (November 22, 1999) - With the onslaught of winter, one thing is on everyone's mind: how to keep 350,000 vulnerable people warm and dry over the next few months. With over 100,000 houses wholly or partially destroyed, the task of providing enough shelter for their former inhabitants is daunting.
"Imagine a city the size of Buffalo, NY, with a totally shattered infrastructure," says Tom Hurley, CARE's mission director in Kosovo. "Now imagine trying to rebuild it in three months."
CARE is responsible for approximately one fifth of the shelter distribution in Kosovo, reaching over 12,000 households. Each household is receiving what is called a warm/dry kit, which contains enough material to seal off and heat one room. Such kits, which include timber, heavy-duty plastic, tools and stoves, were used during the Bosnian crisis, where they saved thousands of lives.
The task of deploying enough shelter material before the heavy snow falls is a challenge. Many of the villages where CARE is working are over 3,000 feet high and can only be reached via steep, rutted dirt tracks. While most of the tracks leading to villages have been de-mined, mines and unexploded ordnance still pose a very real threat.
Logistical problems have further complicated the task. Long delays at the Macedonian border, which is the entry point for most of the humanitarian supplies, make it difficult for CARE and other agencies to get their material into Kosovo on time. Despite these constraints, CARE hopes to complete the emergency-shelter distribution by late December.
CARE is also providing emergency food aid, distributing monthly rations to nearly 50,000 men, women and children throughout the province. A further 5,500 vulnerable people, about half of whom are from minority groups including the Roma, will also receive monthly supplies of fresh food. In addition, 20,000 vulnerable households continue to receive firewood for winter fuel.
CARE in Kosovo
CARE has worked in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia since 1993, assisting displaced Serb refugees from Bosnia, and in Kosovo since 1998, implementing shelter repair, food distribution and other relief projects. CARE managed eight refugee camps in Albania and Macedonia during the massive displacement of more than 1 million people from Kosovo. CARE was forced to suspend operations during this period, but re-entered Kosovo three days after the first NATO troops. CARE is working in the Ferizaj (Urosevac), Kachanik, Lipljan and Mitrovica areas with a comprehensive emergency program including food distribution, shelter provision and repair, agricultural rehabilitation, community health, mine-awareness training and demining.
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