The ICRC has been present and working in South Ossetia for five days. The team of 20 delegates and national staff continue to evaluate needs and are expecting a new convoy of supplies on Tuesday 26 August.


Detainees

For the first time, the ICRC has been able to visit people detained in relation to the hostilities in South Ossetia. The ICRC carried out a visit to 89 civilians currently held in the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali on 23 and 24 August. Gaining access to people detained or arrested in connection with the conflict has been a main priority for the ICRC since the beginning of the fighting.

During the prison visit in Tskhinvali, ICRC delegates were able to register the 89 detainees and assess their conditions of detention. The ICRC shared its observations directly with the relevant authorities. In agreement with the authorities, the detainees were able to call their relatives using ICRC mobile phones. Written Red Cross messages were also collected and will be distributed shortly to the detainees' family members, who have eagerly been waiting for news of their loved ones. In addition, the ICRC has provided the 89 detainees (along with around 10 other people whose detention is not related to the conflict) with blankets, clean clothes, soap and towels.


Medical materials, water and sanitation support to Tskhinvali's main hospital

This week, the ICRC is working to help improve the water and sanitation system at Tskhinvali's main hospital, which was damaged during the fighting. The hospital is receiving support from the Russian Federation's emergency agency, Emercom. One of the biggest challenges facing the hospital at present is the need for sterile materials, since staff were unable to sterilize equipment and linens due to a lack of water and electricity during the fighting.

The ICRC is providing obstetric materials, including 500 delivery sets, for the hospital's maternity ward, as well as surgical clothes and operating theatre linens. In addition, the organization is assisting the hospital in safely disposing of medical waste. Last week, the ICRC was told by doctors that all 223 people who had been wounded in the conflict and taken to the hospital, had already been transferred to medical facilities in the Russian Federation.


Family ties / people unaccounted for

The ICRC's office in Tskhinvali continues to meet with around a dozen people per day, who have lost contact with their families or have no news of their loved ones. Some people are eager to send Red Cross messages to their loved ones outside South Ossetia, while others have had no contact with their relatives at all and are desperately trying to establish the whereabouts of their missing family members.

The ICRC remains ready to support the authorities in efforts to ensure that human remains are properly identified, and where possible help to bring them back to their families.

The ICRC's office in Gori continues to expand. The team is now 17-people strong and includes specialists in the areas of water and habitat, health, economic security and a mine expert to assess the risk of unexploded ordnance.

Life seems to be getting back to normal in Gori, with shops opening and more people returning home. Of course, conditions are still very difficult for people whose homes were destroyed or who remain in shelter centres. More people – both young and old – can now be seen out on the streets of Gori.

People returning home

The atmosphere in Tbilisi is more relaxed this week, with substantial numbers of people leaving to go home. The authorities are organizing buses for them to return to their hometowns and villages, especially in and around Gori. It is expected that the needs in Gori will continue to grow among people who may not be able to gain access to their villages or who are finally able to travel from isolated villages to Gori.


Restoring family links

On 24 August, ICRC delegates helped reunite a nine-year-old little boy, who has both Georgian and American citizenship, with his relatives in Tbilisi and his mother, who flew in from the United States. She had contacted the American Red Cross asking for assistance in finding her son. An ICRC team was able to go to Imeretia to pick him up and bring him to the ICRC's Tbilisi delegation on Sunday night, where he was reunited with his mother.

The ICRC continues to help restore family links between separated family members in Georgia and respond to tracing requests from people who have lost contact with their relatives.

The ICRC stands ready in Georgia to facilitate the recovery, transfer and hand-over of mortal remains to families.


Detainees

On 24 August, the ICRC was able to visit to a dozen South Ossetian detainees being held in two places of detention in Georgia. The ICRC delegates were able to register the detainees and talk with them in private to assess their conditions of detention. The delegates then shared their observations directly with the relevant authorities. The ICRC also facilitated contacts between the detainees and their families through Red Cross messages and phone calls.


Health, food and non-food assistance

The ICRC continues to support hospitals with medicine and medical supplies. So far, the ICRC has helped displaced people at 45 collective shelter centres in Georgia. In Georgia, it has provided food and non-food items to over 2,700 households so far. (On average there are five people per household.)

Since the beginning of the crisis, the ICRC and the Russian Red Cross have provided essential household items, including blankets, clothes, diapers and soap to approximately 1,170 people in North Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria in the Russian Federation.

The ICRC has visited 11 collective centres in North Ossetia, housing people who were forced to flee their homes. Assistance, including war wounded kits, was also provided to five health centres. In addition, the ICRC is evaluating the needs of displaced people who are staying in private accommodation.

People returning home to South Ossetia

The ICRC continues to see a growing number of people 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 showed that the number of displaced people is decreasing on a daily basis and that some centres are closing.

In accordance with the Seville Agreement and Supplementary Measures, the ICRC has been leading the Movement's humanitarian response to the armed conflict, in consultation and cooperation with National Societies of the affected countries, other National Societies and the International Federation.

The Georgian Red Cross Society (GRCS) has mobilized more than 1,000 volunteers across the country to bring emergency assistance to people displaced by the recent fighting. Over the past two weeks, Georgian Red Cross staff and volunteers have been delivering emergency relief and social assistance, as well as organizing blood donations, in affected districts. The GRCS has also been helping with assessments and local fundraising.

In the Russian Federation, the ICRC has been working with the North Ossetian and Kabardino-Balkar branches of the Russian Red Cross to bring emergency relief, including food, blankets, soap and cooking pots, to people displaced by the fighting in South Ossetia. Russian Red Cross staff and volunteers also helped register displaced persons and evaluate their needs at a dozen collective centres during joint assessments with the ICRC. The North Ossetian Red Cross has as also been providing psychological and emotional support for the displaced, including games for children.

The Norwegian, Finnish, German and British Red Cross societies were either mobilised or contacted for deployment and/or stand-by of ERU as soon as the conflict broke out.

The Norwegian Red Cross sent 13 team members and a field hospital to Tbilisi just days after the crisis started. Due to security issues and limited access to affected areas, the hospital has not yet been deployed, but the Norwegian team has provided valuable support to ICRC operations on various levels, including medical visits and economic security/assistance.

The Swiss Red Cross is supporting the ICRC in Georgia by trucking relief goods from Turkey to Georgia, including 10,000 matresses.

A Turkish Red Crescent Society team was mobilised during the first week of the crisis. They have established a logistics centre in Batumi, in western Georgia, and have provided humanitarian relief materials to the Georgian Red Cross. The TRCS coordinates its support with Movement partners in Tbilisi.

In consultation with the ICRC and in support of the Georgian Red Cross, the Italian Red Cross has set up two soup kitchens at Tbilisi's biggest centres for the displaced, which can provide food for up to 5,000 people.