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FROM THE FIELD

Relief continues in Georgian capital as violence continues
11 Aug 2008 09:47:27 GMT
 Source: World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe office (MEERO)
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World Vision is providing both food and non-food items to the internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as medical supplies to Tbilisi’s main, “Republican” hospital. Photocredit: Dwayne Mamo, World Vision Georgia Communications Manager
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World Vision is providing both food and non-food items to the internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as medical supplies to Tbilisi’s main, “Republican” hospital. Photocredit: Dwayne Mamo, World Vision Georgia Communications Manager
World Vision MEERO, http://meero.worldvision.org

Background

•  Georgia, Abkhazia, S. Ossetia

•  Food and hunger

•  Children

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TBILISI – World Vision is continuing to work and coordinate with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, (UNHCR) and World Food Programme (WFP) as thousands of people displaced by the fighting in South Ossetia and targeted areas of Georgia proper are heading into to the Georgian capital Tbilisi as the violence spills over into a fifth day.

World Vision is providing both food and non-food items to the internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as medical supplies to Tbilisi's main, 'Republican' hospital.

World Vision has helped over 700 people since Saturday and will be continuing its efforts today, Monday 11th August.

'We've just come from a meeting with WFP and have developed a short-term plan to cover those IDPs we know of in terms of continued food assistance. We will also continue with non-food items delivery to locations we know of,' David Womble, National Director of World Vision Georgia, explained.

'We will mobilize supplies from outside the country as well, but of course all of this depends on a cessation of attacks on Georgia. We need all parties to observe an immediate ceasefire,' Womble added.

The number of IDPs in Georgia proper and South Ossetia is estimated to be between 10,000 and 20,000 according to the UNHCR.

There are now 12 collection centers set up to receive people fleeing the violence, half of which are in the city itself, and the rest in towns and villages very near, for people seeking shelter.

World Vision is currently carrying out needs assesments in all the centres in Tbilisi, with a special focus on the needs of the children.

The extent of humanitarian suffering is described by World Vision staff as 'heartbreaking and profoundly disturbing.'

Many of the IDPs are arriving to Tbilisi however they can – by foot or by car – and with nothing but what they are wearing.

'I don't need anything, but peace,' shared an 11-year-old boy from the village of Ergneti in the Gori region.

'There were rockets in the sky and it was like lightning all the time,' he said. 'I'm here with my 4-year old sister and mother. Daddy also arrived. When we were going from Ergneti to Gori to visit my aunt, they dropped a bomb on the way and the building block started to shake. We got scared and we immediately came to Tbilisi,' continued the boy, describing his family's experience.


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Topics

•  Children

•  Food and hunger

•  Refugees & displacement

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Emergencies

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Georgian soldiers rest as people read a list of victims at the hospital in Gori some 80 km (50 miles) from Tbilisi, August 11, 2008. The simmering conflict between Russia and ...


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Last updated:Mon Aug 11 10:29:28 2008