Save the Children fly aid into Chad

As the rainy season draws closer, we face a race against time before roads are completely cut off and access to people living in camps in eastern Chad becomes even more difficult.

Friday 29 June 2007

On 29 June 2007, Save the Children will be sending an aid flight carrying vital supplies to eastern Chad to help children and families forced to flee their homes due to violence in the Darfur border region.

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 from Darfur and those displaced within Chad.

45 tonnes of relief supplies, including enough heavy duty tarpaulins to provide shelter for 5,000 families and more than 3,500 blankets, will be flown into the area.

"We know we're 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," said Dominique Porteaud Save the Children's Emergencies Adviser, who has just returned from Chad.

The flight will contain communications and office equipment to enable 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 be departing from Ostend airport in Belgium, the closest airport to Save the Children's emergency supplies warehouse. It will arrive in N'DJamena, Chad, at 03.30 local time on 30 June.

What we are doing

We plan to reach a total of 40,000 children in eastern Chad

We will be working in the internally displace people (IDP) sites of Aradib, Habile and Dogdore, where children and families have been without basic supplies for many weeks. Malnutrition levels are already rising in some areas, and education facilities are almost non-existent.

How you can help

Personal stories

Learn more about the IDP site near Koukou in eastern Chad. Read Amina's story.


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