Verkhvebi IDP Settlement
Verkhvebi is one of those several settlements which emerged on empty fields following the August, 2008 war. Built for families forced to leave their homes in breakaway South Ossetia as a result of the August war, Verkhvebi is located on the very edge of the town of Gori in Shida Kartli, a region where about ten other such settlements are located. Verkhvebi settlement with about 300 cottages was built in 2009 with financial donation from the German government. According to official data total of about 258,000 internally displaced persons are registered in Georgia, about 6% of them are those displaced as a result of the August, 2008 war. Despite some deficiencies in construction of cottages, conditions in Verkhvebi seem to be a bit better than in other similar settlements. Anja Bronny of EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM), who conducts regular patrols to IDP settlements to monitor living conditions there, says employment rate in Verkhvebi is relatively higher than in other such settlements. Civil.ge’s intern Marco Fieber was in Verkhvebi on March 28 accompanying EUMM patrol.
