Mercy Corps Continues to Meet the Needs of Georgians Displaced by Conflict

August 18, 2008

Photo: Reuters/Denis Sinyakov, courtesy www.alertnet.org

Portland, OR - After brutal fighting between Georgian and Russian forces displaced an estimated 158,000 people from their homes, the global relief and development agency Mercy Corps is expanding its relief effort into the hard-hit city of Gori.

Within the last 24 hours, a Mercy Corps emergency response team was allowed past Russian checkpoints into Gori. A rapid needs assessment involving city residents and local officials clarified that food, water and hygiene items remain a high priority in the area. At the request of Gori's deputy governor, Mercy Corps will deliver hygiene kits to about 600 households in villages just outside Gori tomorrow.

Mercy Corps' team in Georgia's capital city of Tbilisi is currently preparing an additional one-week distribution of food, as well as critical non-food items for up to 1,000 displaced people in Gori.

"Our teams in Gori are seeing a significant level of damage from the fighting," said Jim White, Mercy Corps' vice-president of program operations. "Not much aid has reached the areas around there, so our immediate focus will be to provide the basics. Once those needs are met, we will look ahead to the recovery process and paving the way for a peaceful reconciliation among people on all sides of the conflict."

Last week, Mercy Corps distributed food to people in five displacement camps in and around Tbilisi, as well as two areas in central and western Georgia. Mercy Corps is also securing warehouse space in Tbilisi to house additional materials that are still flowing into the country for distribution to displaced families.

As the security situation stabilizes, Mercy Corps' relief effort will continue to expand into affected areas around Gori and into the disputed region of South Ossetia. As immediate needs such as food and hygiene supplies are met, Mercy Corps will transition into longer-term recovery programming such as helping displaced families return home and restarting businesses and schools.

Mercy Corps has worked in Georgia since 2000. The agency's programs support rural development by helping farm families increase production, gain access to financing, form farmer groups, and connect to markets and information. Mercy Corps has also helped cultivate young leaders working to build an inclusive, multi-ethnic society in Georgia.

Mercy Corps was on the verge of launching a new program in South Ossetia aimed at increasing interaction between ethnic Ossetian and Georgian youth when the conflict began.