UN agencies launching relief operations
UN News Centre
UN agencies are launching relief operations to help people affected by the escalating conflict in Georgia. Over the weekend, in response to a request from the Georgian Government, the World Food Programme (WFP), provided a 10-day food ration to nearly 2,000 displaced people living in shelters in the capital, Tbilisi. Today’s distributions are mainly targeted at people outside the capital. But access to them is restricted by continuing Russian air raids. The situation is extremely dangerous for WFP staff, according to the agency.
Meanwhile, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is mounting an emergency airlift of relief supplies to bolster its stockpiles of humanitarian aid in the Caucasus region. Additional staff are also being deployed. The first airlift flight, which will carry 20,000 blankets and other aid items, is scheduled to fly from UNHCR’s stockpile in Dubai to Georgia tonight. A second flight is planned for Wednesday from Copenhagen. The two flights will carry humanitarian supplies for up to 30,000 people.
In addition to displacement from South Ossetia, UNHCR is also worried by population movements from the town of Gori, in central Georgia. A UNHCR assessment team traveled to Gori on Sunday and was told by local officials that up to 80 percent of the population had left, fearing further attacks.
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