Refugees are crossing the borders into Macedonia and Albania in large numbers. A high proportion of the refugees are children.
Save the Children has released initial funding from our Emergency Relief Reserve to allow immediate operations to begin. SCF has staff in Albania and Macedonia who are working with our partners wherever possible, responding to the needs of refugees and distributing survival kits. We have already distributed over 10,000 survival kits. They contain warm winter clothing for children, cooking utensils, soap and towels and plastic sheeting.

All SCF expatriate staff were evacuated from our offices in Pristina and Belgrade last week, our programmes work in Yugoslavia has been suspended until it is feasible to return. Save the Children has worked in the region (most recently) since 1993 and will be staying to play a major rehabilitation role in Kosovo whenever that is possible.

The situation is changing daily and the hotline will be regularly updated during this crisis.