Please Help Kyrgyzstan

EDIT: You can donate to Tashkent regional (will go to kstan) using this link:

http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList2/Help_the_ICRC?OpenDocument

I am posting this from a friend who was evacuated from the south of the country:

Hello, everyone.

Thank you so much for caring about the people of Southern Kyrgyzstan who are affected by recent violence. I have a list of aid items requested by people in Southern Kyrgyzstan. Please contact your local Red Cross or Red Crescent in order to get supplies organized and sent into Southern Kyrgyzstan. Please urge them to be strategic about where they send shipments as not all aid is currently being distributed evenly and may be divided by ethnic/class lines.

Remember that food has been used, houses were lost, and refuge camps are being created, so many different types of items are needed. Obviously only send perishables if you are located close to Kyrgyzstan itself.

Thank you

---NEEDS---
Food Products
Grains, sugar, pastas, bread, oil, canned food, any food suitable for children

Medical Supplies
Dressing for wounds, disinfectants, anesthesia, syringes, intestinal medications, cardiac medications, blood pressure controlling medicines

Clothes
Light men’s, women’s, and children’s clothes, diapers, and cloths.

Also:

It will take time for them to figure out how to get aid to all groups of people, but the Red Cross/Crescent is our best bet at the moment.

Pierre-Emmanuel Ducruet, ICRC Osh, tel: +996 677 20 22 610

For further information, please contact:
Anna Nelson, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79 217 32 64
Yuriy Shafarenko, ICRC Moscow, tel: +7 9 03 545 3534

And if you can, please contact your representatives:

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Here is a sample letter:

The Honorable (full name)
(Room #) (Name) Senate Office Building
United States Senate or United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20510 (20515 for Representatives)

Dear (President, your members of Congress):

Over the past few days, many people have been killed or injured during ethnic conflict around Osh, Kyrgyzstan, and it is reported around 100,000 people are attempting to flee the region to neighboring Uzbekistan.

Reliable reports from the region indicate that media reports are understating the extent of this violence.

I would ask you to call for the U.S. Government to do all it can to restore law and order and provide aid to those suffering from this situation