The ICRC's team, which arrived in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali on 20 August, continued its evaluation work on 21 August.

The team visited the main hospital and found that some of its buildings were damaged. An ICRC water and habitat engineer is meeting with hospital technicians to determine whether the ICRC can help improve or repair the facility's water and sanitation system. The team was told by doctors that all 223 people wounded in South Ossetia and taken to the hospital had been transferred to medical facilities in the Russian Federation.

ICRC delegates were able to visit more of the city, parts of which were destroyed. There are blown out windows, now covered by plastic, in some buildings. Electricity and water supplies appear to be up and running with occasional cuts. Other areas of Tskhinvali were not affected by the fighting.

There are some supplies, such as oil and fruit juice, in the stores but residents are mostly receiving hot meals from the Russian authorities.

The ICRC is beginning to see the scale of the needs outside the towns, and the extent to which families have been broken up by the conflict. ICRC tracing teams have seen their workload soar, as an increasing number of displaced people come forward in collective centres in places like Tbilisi to report missing relatives and to seek help for family members left behind at home.

The ICRC base in Gori is up and running

On 21 August ICRC medical and assistance teams based in the Georgian town of Gori were able to visit isolated villages north and south of the town for the first time.

It appears that it is mostly elderly people who have been left behind. They are living in very difficult conditions, and especially lack food. Some villages are without electricity. The organization’s visit was the first time the villages had seen any humanitarian aid in two weeks. The ICRC delivered a truckload of food to residents in several villages.

Bringing relief to the people

So far, the ICRC has provided food and material assistance to at least 7,000 people at 21 collective shelters in Georgia, including in Tbilisi, Gori and Zugdidi. In the capital, Tbilisi and other Georgian towns, the distribution of relief goods continues. It has restored access to clean water and improved sanitation conditions for an additional 3,700 people, bringing the total number of people assisted in Georgia to over 10,000.

The setting up of its office in Gori has enabled the ICRC to provide additional help to isolated villages near the town, where people may remain cut off from assistance. Around 1,000 people have received food and material aid from the ICRC in Gori so far (including people mentioned in the above total of 10,000).

The organization is continuing to support hospitals with medicine and medical supplies.

Family ties/people unaccounted for

The ICRC will remain in touch with the authorities in efforts to clarify the fate of people whose whereabouts are unknown and to help family members dispersed by the conflict restore contact.

It will also support the authorities’ efforts to ensure that human remains are properly identified, and where possible help to bring them back to their families.

Detainees

The ICRC continues to seek access to all those detained in connection with the conflict. It remains poised to assist as a neutral intermediary in the event of any release or handover of detainees, civilian internees or prisoners of war.

The ICRC made its first visit to Dzinaga, a very remote mountainous area in North Ossetia, and noted that everything was under control. Officials and the ICRC observe that more and more people are leaving the Russian Federation to return to Tskhinvali and other parts of South Ossetia. Recent ICRC and Russian Red Cross visits to five collective centres in North Ossetia established that the number of displaced people is decreasing on a daily basis and that some centres are closing.

The organization distributed hygiene items to over 420 people at four collective centres in North Ossetia (in Alaguir, Urdson, Metallurg) on 20 August. This brings the total number of people assisted by the ICRC and the Russian Red Cross to over 1,000 in North Ossetia. In all the ICRC has helped displaced people at 10 collective centres.

The ICRC is helping the North Ossetian branch of the Russian Red Cross assess the needs of displaced people staying in private accommodation in North Ossetia. Overall, the number of people displaced by the conflict, who fled to the Northern Caucasus and are staying in 58 collective centres there, is around 4,200, according to the Russian authorities. The number of displaced people staying in private accommodation or with relatives in the Russian Federation is estimated to be around 13,000. The authorities say close to 18,000 people have already returned home.