Tuesday, August 19, 2008

IOCC begins distributions in Tbilisi & North Ossetia

BALTIMORE, MD [IOCC] -- International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) distributed emergency food and hygiene supplies to people who were displaced due to the conflict between Georgian, Russian, and South Ossetian forces. The distribution took place on Thursday in Tbilisi where displaced families took shelter in a school for the blind and in the nearby town of Tskvarichamia. IOCC is also coordinating assistance to refugees in North Ossetia (Russia) in partnership with the Russian Orthodox Church.

"Most people had to flee the fighting in South Ossetia and brought nothing more than the clothes on their backs," said IOCC Georgia Program Manager Darejan Dzotsenidze. The Georgian government and the U.N. are currently registering some 23,000 people who fled the conflict and poured into Tbilisi. Those numbers are expected to increase.

Read it all here.