Managing Migration for the Benefit of All
Georgia – Assisting Vulnerable Displaced Families, Calling for Funds
IOM staff in Tbilisi continues 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, tooth paste, 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 in 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 Georgian Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation and UN 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 centers,” says IOM’s Kharashvili. “For the time being, our emergency response has made best used of limited internal funding but this is rapidly running out.”
As part of this week’s UN Flash Appeal, IOM requires an initial US$ 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 at IOM Georgia, Tel: + 995 32 25 22 16; Email: kdidbaridze@iom.geIOM Worldwide Press Briefing Notes
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