IOM is appealing to international donors for an initial US$ 1.9
million to provide emergency logistical support, shelter and
non-food assistance to tens of thousands of Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs) in Tbilisi and in other parts of Georgia over the
next six months.

The funding request, part of the UN's Flash Appeal, will allow
IOM staff in Georgia to provide emergency ground transportation to
support on-going WFP food distributions, and to distribute shelter
materials and Non Food Items (NFIs) to hundreds of particularly
vulnerable families who have been displaced by the recent armed
conflict.

IOM is currently mobilizing some 20 staff in Tbilisi, Kutasi and
Batumi, on Georgia's Black Sea coast, to support data collection on
the newly displaced and to assist in the distribution of emergency
assistance to the IDPs in need.

"IDPs are currently sheltering either with relatives and friends
or increasingly moving into hundreds of collective centres. 
The influx of displaced is considerable and the process fluid. All
these factors, together with limited transportation, communications
and access to certain areas complicates the delivery of
humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable, including female
headed households, children, the sick and the elderly," says IOM's
Sophie Kharashvili. "Our challenge is to quickly identify the most
vulnerable among the displaced to ensure they receive the
assistance they desperately need."

Based on the number of people registered by the Georgian
authorities, some 128,700 people have been displaced in Georgia
during the recent conflict, including some 81,000 in Tbilisi. This
figure does not include the estimated 30,000 people believed to
have sought refuge in North Ossetia, Russian Federation.

For more information, please contact:

Khatuna Didbaridze

IOM Georgia

Tel: + 995 32 25 22 16

E-mail: "mailto:kdidbaridze@iom.ge">kdidbaridze@iom.ge