World Vision began assisting displaced people in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi on Saturday August 9.

World Vision provided essential food and non-food items such as bars of soap, toilet paper, wet napkins, towels, bed sheets, large woolen blankets, and essential food items such as cans of canned meat with vegetables, pasta, canned fish, vegetable oil, iodized salt, among others items to an estimated 170 people, mainly women and children, who escaped the violence from Gori and villages in South Ossetia.

The refugees and internally displaced persons have been arriving at an existing center in Tbilisi that has been home to hundreds of families displaced from Georgia's other breakaway region of Abkhazia.

'I have seen war, but what I saw today was terrible. I haven't seen anything like that in my life. I was shocked. What are we going to do now?' asked a shaken and concerned 36-year-old woman, who managed to escape the violence from Gori with her two children.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has now declared a 15-day 'state of war' as clashes continue in South Ossetia and against military targets in Georgia.

World Vision will continue working with WFP and other organizations as more people continue to flee southward toward the Georgian capital.

All World Vision Georgia operations in Georgia, as well as its projects in Abkhazia, have been suspended for the time being, as all efforts are now focused on the humanitarian relief effort.

'UN agencies and NGOs will meet tomorrow [Sunday] to discuss the increasing humanitarian crisis and how the humanitarian actors can coordinate an effective response', explained David Womble, World Vision Georgia National Director.


World Vision will continue working with WFP and other organisations as more people are expected to flee southward toward the Georgian capital.


Currently, eight Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) locations have been identified. Three are located in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and five of them in other districts of the country. These locations have been identified by the Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation, and are currently serving over 2,000 people with the number expected to rise as the violence continues.