General situation Tbilisi/Gori/Western Georgia
People have been returning to villages north of Gori in recent weeks.
"The place was crowded and I missed my home,"
said a mother about the centre where she had been living before returning to her village.
"I couldn't stand it any more.
That's why I've come back, even though it isn't very
safe," she added.
Many people return only during daylight hours, as they do not yet feel secure enough to stay in their villages overnight.
In the buffer zone north of Gori,
villagers are worried about their harvests.
The area is highly fertile, and families depend on the income they earn from selling their fruit and farm produce.
This year, the
harvest was largely lost because of the conflict.
People are now reluctant to enter their orchards and fields because of widespread unexploded ordnance (UXO).
As a result, they
will not only have less food for their own use during the winter, but they will also have less income.
The ICRC is assessing the extent of UXO contamination.
In western Georgia,
many families displaced during the conflict in Abkhazia 15 years ago are now hosting their newly displaced relatives.
"I had 20 people staying here at first.
Now some of them
have left.
But 16 years ago there were 60 people staying in my house," said the female head of a host family in western Georgia.
Others who left the Kodori valley and surrounding
areas during last month's conflict have moved further afield, to Kutaisi, Gori and Tbilisi.
People throughout the region are preparing for winter.
Those whose houses were damaged
in the conflict and its aftermath are trying to get repairs completed as soon as possible, so that they will be able to stay warm when cold weather arrives.
The ICRC has begun to distribute
tarpaulins and window coverings to the people who are most vulnerable.
Longer-term ICRC assistance will include corrugated iron sheets for roofs.
Tskhinvali
Restoring
family links between people who have been separated by the conflict is the main priority for the ICRC in Tskhinvali today.
Since late August, the ICRC mission in that city has been
expanding the scale and reach of its operations in South Ossetia.
The ICRC now carries out a wide range of humanitarian activities in rural areas, including in the Leningori/Akhalgori
region, as well as in Tskhinvali.
As autumn starts and night temperatures drop, the main concern of South Ossetia residents is the approaching winter.
Much rebuilding needs to be
done in Tskhinvali, and it is unclear whether central heating and gas supplies will resume in time.
Effective longer-term measures must be taken rapidly in order to help the population of
South Ossetia to cope with winter weather conditions.
Easing the concerns of separated family membersTbilisi/Gori/Western Georgia
Since the start of the conflict in early
August, some 500 people have approached the ICRC in Tbilisi seeking its help in searching for missing relatives. The ICRC is working hard to provide such help whenever it can.
Many
families were split up because some members left home while others stayed behind to protect their land and possessions.
The ICRC is making its Red Cross message service available to
the displaced so that family members can keep in touch when other means of communication are unavailable.
On 15 September, an elderly blind woman in western Georgia was transferred at her
request and in agreement with the local authorities to an old persons' home in Samredia, near Kutaisi.
She had been living alone in deplorable conditions in a village close to the Inguri
river.
The Georgian Red Cross in Tbilisi were responsible for getting her a place in a home, and worked tirelessly to ensure that all the paperwork and other formalities were completed
speedily.
Tskhinvali
Like its counterpart in Tbilisi, the ICRC team in Tskhinvali continues to receive tracing requests from people trying to locate missing family members.
In rural areas, those who stayed or were left behind –many of them elderly – when other family members abandoned their villages are anxious for news.
The ICRC is helping them
to send Red Cross messages or to call relatives.
Families are being reunited in both Tbilisi/Gori and Tskhinvali.
Since 30 August, 191 individuals, 23 of them children,
have been reunited with their loved ones under ICRC auspices.
"My daughter went to the seaside for summer holidays," said Madonna Gagieva, a Tskhinvali resident.
"She is 14 and I
could not let her travel to Tskhinvali by herself.
The school year had already started and I was desperate for the ICRC to bring her back.
We can't believe we are all together
again." Assisting the vulnerableIn western Georgia, the ICRC:
carries out assessments, distributes food and household items, and monitors the humanitarian situation on the ground;
assessed the needs of over 400 displaced persons in the town of Sachkhere on 11 September.
The Turkish Red Crescent and the local community provided them with food and household items;
distributed food to 165 people living in collective centres and war-damaged houses in Senaki.
In addition, it distributed tarpaulins to people with war-damaged homes; supported care
providers from the Red Cross in Abkhazia who delivered hygiene items and personal-care services to over 200 beneficiaries of the home assistance programme.
The care providers also made many
home visits to vulnerable people in Sukhumi, Ochamchira, Eshera, and Gudauta, helping them with shopping and housework.
In Tbilisi/Gori, the ICRC:
distributed rice and food
parcels to over 11,000 beneficiaries in late September.
This completed the second round of emergency food distributions in villages north of Gori.
A longer-term programme to
provide food and other items will run from November 2008 to March 2009; assessed the situation of villages north of Agara on 12 September.
ICRC water and sanitation, health, economic
security and protection delegates found problems similar to those encountered in villages north of Gori.
Villagers confirmed that the ICRC was the first humanitarian organization they had
seen since the conflict began in August; distributed essential items to 67 displaced families living in collective centres in Khashuri, west of Gori, on 16 September; upgraded seven collective centres
for the displaced in Tbilisi.
Toilets were installed, water supplies reconnected and sewage disposal organized.
In Tskhinvali, the ICRC:
carried out its first assessment
in the Leningori/Alkhalgori region on 16 September; assessed people's needs and delivered aid to residents in Tskhinvali and in rural areas.
As the rainy season began, it distributed over
500 tarpaulins over the last three weeks to residents of war-damaged homes.
This is obviously a short-term solution; large-scale reconstruction projects are needed; provided socially
vulnerable Tskhinvali residents – those living in old persons' homes and in drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres – with essential items.
Over 1,700 vulnerable pensioners
received hygiene kits; improved the water supply and sanitary conditions of Tskhinvali's main hospital.
This involved installing water tanks on each floor.
The ICRC
is also helping the hospital to dispose of medical waste safely.
With the resumption of water and electricity supplies, hospital staff were once again able to sterilize medical instruments
and linen.
Informing the population about mines and UXO
The ICRC has started a campaign in and around Tskhinvali to inform residents – children in particular – of the
dangers posed by mines and UXO.
It has also produced signs that mark contaminated areas.
In addition, ICRC staff have been assessing the extent of UXO contamination in
villages between Gori and Tskhinvali and distributing awareness leaflets.
Medical services continuing in the buffer zone
Local medics working alongside the Norwegian Red
Cross/ICRC mobile medical unit continue to travel daily into the buffer zone.
As local medical services resume operations, however, the number of locations to be visited weekly by the
mobile unit will be reduced.
The unit has carried out over 3,000 consultations since it began operating in the buffer zone on 28 August.
Cooperation with International Red
Cross and Red Crescent Movement partnersRed Cross Society of Georgia: Twenty-five volunteers from the Rustavi chapter helped to distribute beds, sheets, pillows, blankets, towels and
carpets, together with 100 food parcels, to displaced families living in collective centres and in a camp in Rustavi.
These items formed part of a 91-metric-tonne consignment of relief
items sent to Georgia by the Kuwait Red Crescent Society.
Georgian Red Cross staff and volunteers organized a social event in the tented camp in Gori, where thousands of displaced
people are waiting to return to their villages in the buffer zone when the security situation improves.
The event provided welcome relief for families suffering post-traumatic stress in the
wake of last month's conflict.
A similar event was held for children on 18 September.
A psycho-social programme for children run by the Georgian Red Cross will start shortly in
the Gori camp.
The Italian Red Cross has provided a large tent for volunteers of the Gori chapter of the Georgian Red Cross to support their youth activities.
The
International Federation and the ICRC have agreed to harmonize their efforts and those of the Georgian Red Cross to meet the needs of the displaced through first aid, disaster management and
psycho-social support.
The Italian Red Cross soup kitchen in the Gori camp run by UNHCR has produced over 200,000 meals since it opened on 2 September.
Georgian Red Cross
volunteers help to prepare and distribute the meals.
Joint teams of Georgian Red Cross volunteers and Italian Red Cross staff also transport and distribute meals to displaced persons in
nearly 30 collective centres daily in Gori and Tbilisi.
The ICRC has distributed over 3,500 jerrycans donated by the French Red Cross in 24 collective centres in Tbilisi and Gori,
and in 19 villages in Shida Kartli, Poti Chuberi, and Khashuri districts.
Over 930 tarpaulins have also been distributed in collective centres in Tbilisi and Gori.
A large
Swiss Red Cross donation of mattresses is currently being distributed in eight collective centres.
For more information, please contact:
Jessica Barry, ICRC Tbilisi, tel:
+995 91 600 689
Anastasia Issyuk.
Children remove mud from their house after floods caused by heavy rains in the oasis town of Ghardaia in the M'Zab valley south of Algiers October 3, 2008. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra (ALGERIA) ...
