Georgia - DHA-08: 1-31.Dec.96

United Nations
Department of Humanitarian Affairs
Situation Report from the DHA Coordinator in GEORGIA - No. 8
Period covered: 1-31 December 1996


HIGHLIGHTS
Flood and Heavy Snowfall strike West and East Georgia
UNHCR Holds Regional Workshop on Shelter
Government and Aid Agencies Prevent Diphtheria Epidemic in
  the Hotel Iveria
Meeting in Gali Addresses Return of IDPs

OVERALL HUMANITARIAN SITUATION
Heavy rains fell in west Georgia on 22-25 December and
resulted in floods in Kutaisi, Zestaponi, Bagdadi, Vani,
Samtredia, Chiatura, Sachkhere, and Tskhaltubo. The hydro-
electric plans generating energy for the west Georgian
districts ceased functioning and were not able to provide
electricity to the population of Kutaisi. In Zestaponi,
where the waterpipes went out of order, the supply of the
drinking water to the city stopped and the factories in
this industrial town stopped operating. The river Kvirila
flooded the central districts of the town and in some
villages the population was evacuated. The heavy snowfall
on December 24-25 caused blockages on the Transcaucasus
automobile route. The situation was critical in Tskhinvali,
South Ossetia, where communications were cut off. Several
settlements of South Ossetia were left without electricity.
Heavy snow-falls caused avalanches on the Georgian military
highway, Transcaucasian arterial road, and in the mountains
of Ajra. The snow cover on the Jvari pass exceeded two
meters, and in the Mestia region - a meter and a half.
Population was evacuated from the zones of danger. Over
this period, west Georgia suffered two big floods damaging
16 districts, 3 people were killed, over 1,200 residential
houses were destroyed, communications were cut off. The
government rescue operations are under way in the disaster
regions.

On 12-13 December 1996, UNHCR conducted a regional shelter
evaluation workshop in Tskhaltubo. The objectives were a)
information exchange on housing and shelter activities
carried out in the Caucasus countries b) discussion and
evaluation of the UNHCR Georgia shelter strategy c)
illustration of the results of the pilot phase of the
housing projects d) collection of information to design a
plan of action for the large scale implementation phase in
1997. (For more detail, see IDPs and Refugees below).

On 4 December, a case of diphtheria in Tbilisis Iveria
hotel was reported. The Iveria hotel houses 767 internally
displaced persons (IDPs), 220 of whom are children. A
paediatrician and an otolaryngologist from the IDP
polyclinic were sent to the hotel immediately. People
having contacted the infected child were examined, and
specific treatment with antitoxin and antibiotics was
administered. At the same time, all close contacts received
a dose of diphtheria toxoid. UNICEF provided the Ministry
of Health with benzathine penicillin, injection water, and
syringes. By 10 December, 180 children under 15 years and
417 adults had been vaccinated, as well as 98
administration personnel. According to the National Centre
for Disease Control, there were thirteen positive cultures
and eighteen suspected positive cases. In sum, the rapid
intervention of the government and UNICEF prevented what
could have been a catastrophe.

On 23 and 24 December, the Georgian government, Abkhaz de
facto authorities, Russian Federation UNOMIG, UNHCR, and
OSCE met in Gali town to discuss a possible return of IDPs
to the Gali district, Abkhazia in early 1997. The Abkhaz
agreed, in principle, to a return of IDPs although they
expressed concern over the continued CIS economic blockade.
For their part, the Georgians said that the process of
return would make addressing the question of economic
sanctions easier. While no firm agreements were reached,
the negotiations are scheduled to continue in January 1997.

SECTORS

CHILDREN IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES
Children in orphanages continue receiving aid from several
agencies operating in Georgia. In December, EMSA
distributed tools for craftsmanship, iodised salt, and used
clothes to the Akhalgori and Surami orphanages. Counterpart
Foundation handed over childrens jackets, school supplies,
and bed linen to the orphanage in Surami. Georgian
Foundation distributed Christmas parcels to the orphanage
in Kojori and to the orphan IDP children in the Gidani
district in Tbilisi.

FOOD AID
World Food Programme (WFP) finished the second round of
food distribution in Ajara on 30 December, 16,035
beneficiaries, of which 9,608 are IDPs have received about
112 MTs of wheat flour during the second round. In East
Georgia, the second round also finished on 30 December,
except for the Kazbegi region where due to the roads being
blocked by heavy snow, deliveries were interrupted. In
December, CARE completed the first round of distribution of
food commodities (wheat flour, oil, sugar, iodised salt) to
33,971 vulnerable households in Ambrolauri, Kharagauli,
Lentekhi, Oni, Sachkhere, and Tsageri. The first round of
the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) food
distribution is ongoing in the five regions of south
Georgia Adigeni, Akhalikali, Akhaltsikhe, Aspindza, and
Ninotsminda. The International Federation of the Red Cross
(IFRC) continues distributing food parcels consisting of
wheat flour, rice, vegetable oil, pasta, sugar, and tinned
meat to single elderly pensioners. In December, the parcels
were delivered to the pensioners in twenty-seven districts
in Kartli, Kakheti, Imereti, Samegrelo and Ajara and in
some of Tbilisi districts. Bulk food was distributed to
psychiatric hospitals and orphanages in Akhalgori, Borjomi,
Kaspi, Gardabani, Khashuri, Tsalka, and Rustavi. Action
Contre la Faim (ACF) is distributing dry food to 12,000
beneficiaries, some of whom are IDPs, in Zugdidi and
Tsalenjikha. Childrens Aid Direct continues providing 4,000
nutritionally vulnerable children under six years, and
pregnant and lactating mothers with food in the Zugdidi
district. Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) carried out a distribution of humanitarian
aid to the village of Rukhi in the Zugdidi district. 1,140
IDPs received sugar, wheat flour, vegetable oil, pasta, and
packs of soup.

HEALTH
World Health Organisation (WHO) provided anti-tuberculosis
drugs as well as TB and diphtheria diagnostic reagents to
the Institute of Tuberculosis and Pulmonology. Forty-two
kits for TB and diphtheria diagnosis were delivered to the
Ministry of Health of Georgia (MoH). WHO also supplied MoH
with epidemic response kits. International Committee of the
Red Cross along with the UNHCR, Action Contre la Faim (ACF)
and M,decins sans FrontiSres (MSF), continues addressing
the basic needs of the vulnerable groups in Abkhazia. The
agency opened an orthopaedic centre where every month,
twenty-eight disabled persons will receive artificial limbs
free of charge. ACTS Georgia delivered 4,239 units of
different medicines and 26,478 units of medical supplies to
the medical institutions in Batumi, Bakuriani, Rustavi,
Sagarejo, and Tbilisi. Childrens Aid Direct, within the
framework of mother and child health care programme,
organised two workshops in Zugididi on control of
diarrhoeal disease, family planning, and breast-feeding.
The workshops were attended by medical personnel and
representatives of the Ministry of Health. MSF-Spain has
finished its drug distribution programme and started
implementing a new health programme in the Samegrelo
region. As a pilot project, the programme aims to promote
and support primary health care in Tsalenjikha. The agency
also delivered medical supplies to the central republican
hospital in Tbilisi. UMCOR, in collaboration with the
Kurtaisi Municipality and the local refugee committee,
conducted a primary health assessment in Tskaltubo. The aim
of the survey was to assess the health status of 9,000 IDPs
currently residing in Tskaltubo. The findings were used as
a basis for providing necessary medicines to IDPs. The
agency also distributed dry whole milk to kindergartens in
Kutaisi and infant formula and dry milk to the Kutaisi
Municipality to be distributed to polyclinics for lactating
mothers and children under 12 months. UMCOR has a new
policy guiding its distribution of medical supplies to
medical institutions. To ensure the availability of aid to
the vulnerable groups of population, the agency has started
drawing up agreements with medical institutions, according
to which the polyclinics and hospitals are bound to sue 50
percent of the cost of aid for rendering medical services
and providing medicines to the most vulnerable free of
charge.

 IDPS AND REFUGEES
 UNHCR held a shelter evaluation workshop in Tskaltubo on
 12-13 December. The workshop was a follow-up of an
 assessment conducted in January 1996 by the Georgian
 governments request to help it solve a housing problem of
 internally displaced persons in Georgia. Based on the
 assessment, UNHCR initiated a new housing programme. The
 aim of the project was to provide displaced persons in
 Georgia with low-cost housing units. In September 1996,
 HCR held a shelter competition and one local and three
 international NGOs were selected to implement the pilot
 phase of the project. Should the funds be made available,
 a larger scale project will be implemented in 1997.
 International Rescue Committee (IRC) finished
 rehabilitation of six communal centres with 1,000 IDP
 residents in Kutaisi and is now rehabilitating six more
 centres. Works include repairing of roofs, windows, and
 sewage systems, building of latrines, toilets and
 showers. IRC plans to distribute beds, mattresses, and
 bed linen to the most vulnerable IDPs IOCC-Lazarus handed
 over wool blankets to the administrative department of
 the Abkhazian Council of Ministers. Counterpart
 Foundation delivered childrens clothes to the IDP centre
 in Gori, Shida Kartli.

 Status of the UN Appeals Funding by Sector

 SECTOR	REQUIREMENTS	CONTRIBUTION	SHORTFALL
 Food aid	 6,547,596	  5,347,596	1,200,000
 Agriculture	3,594,000	298,009	  3,295,991
 Health and
 Nutrition	  2,686,300	  0	 2,686,300
 Refugees and
 IDPs	  10,818,881	 7,345,483	3,473,398
 Shelter	  2,269,000	  40,000	2,229,000
 Education	  1,142,400	  225,564	916,836
 Special Needs	963,500	228,684	  734,816
 Income
 Generation	 1,652,344	  0	 1,652,344
 Capacity
 Building	 194,000	  0	194,000
 TOTAL	 29,868,021	 13,485,336	  16,382,685


 United Nations Office in Tbilisi, Georgia
 Mr. Toby Lanzer
 Tel.: (995 32) 94 31 63
 Fax: (995 32) 95 95 16
 E-Mail: toby@undha.org.ge

 Complex Emergency Division (CED) - New York
 Mr. Kazuhide Kuroda
 Tel.: (1 212) 963.5713
 Fax: (1 212) 963.3630
 E-Mail: dhagva@dha.unicc.org

 Inter-Agency Support Branch (IASB) - Geneva
 Mr. Arjun Katoch
 Tel.: (41 22) 788.6381
 Fax: (41 22) 788.6386
 E-Mail: Arjun.Katoch@dha.unicc.org

 Press To Contact - (DHA-Geneva)
 Ms. Madeleine Moulin-Acevedo
 Tel.: (41 22) 917.2856
 Fax: (41 22) 917.0023
 Telex: 414242 DHA CH
 E-Mail: dhagva@dha.unicc.org