IOM staff in Tbilisi continue to provide humanitarian assistance to
newly displaced vulnerable families who are currently sheltering in
ad hoc collective centres set up in public schools and nurseries,
some of them with limited space and inadequate facilities.

Family, child and baby kits containing essential items such as
mattresses, gas cookers, bed sheets, towels, soap, toothpaste,
washing powder and basin, toilet paper, diapers and baby food have
been distributed to some 500 conflict-affected individuals who have
fled the town of Gori and rural areas around Tskhinvali in South
Ossetia.

"The beneficiaries were identified as being particularly
vulnerable because they fled their homes with just the clothes on
their back," says IOM’s Sophie Kharashvili. "The needs of the
newly displaced are considerable and will probably remain important
as many say their homes have been severely damaged or
destroyed."   

Working with the Georgian Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation
and United Nations partners, IOM has deployed 20 staff in Tbilisi,
Kutasi and in the Black Sea port of Batumi to support data
collection and provide rapid humanitarian assistance. IOM has also
mobilized local volunteers to help in the distribution of non-food
assistance to those most in need.

"Prompt funding is essential if IOM is to continue the speedy
procurement and delivery of relief items to the most affected
displaced families and individuals who are currently scattered in
hundreds of small collective centres," says IOM’s
Kharashvili. "For the time being, our emergency response has made
best use of limited internal funding but this is rapidly running
out." 

As part of this week’s UN Flash Appeal, IOM requires an
initial USD 1.9 million to provide emergency logistical support,
shelter and non-food assistance over the next six months to tens of
thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Tbilisi and in
other parts of Georgia.

Based on the number of people registered by the Georgian
authorities, some 128,700 people have been displaced in Georgia
during the recent conflict, including some 81,000 in Tbilisi. This
figure does not include the estimated 30,000 people believed to
have sought refuge in North Ossetia, Russian Federation.

For more information, please contact:

Khatuna Didbaridze

IOM Georgia

Tel: + 995 32 25 22 16

E-mail: "mailto:kdidbaridze@iom.ge">kdidbaridze@iom.ge