Georgia: Repair work improves living conditions for displaced people
29-07-2004 News Release 04/89
On July 29 the ICRC completed the second phase of its rehabilitation project for collective centres in Georgia, improving living conditions for some 700 displaced people sheltering in 12 centres in the west of the country. Water and sanitation systems were repaired, bathrooms, toilets and laundries rebuilt, and roofs were reconstructed where necessary.
" For nearly eight years we had to carry drinking water in buckets over a distance of several hundred meters. The toilets and shower rooms were out of order and the whole centre was a breeding ground for disease, " reads a grateful letter from a group of displaced people at the Abasha centre.
In 2002 and 2003 the ICRC improved living conditions for some 5,900 displaced people in 25 collective centres in Georgia. It will continue to rehabilitate a further 13 centres in the west of the country in 2004.
More than a decade after the start of hostilities with Abkhazia, over 250,000 people are still displaced in Georgia. Rehabilitating collective centres and setting up income-generating agricultural, trade and craft projects are part of the ICRC's strategy to help people cope with the lasting consequences of the conflict.
For further information, please contact:
David Akhobadze, ICRC Tbilisi, tel. ++ 995 32 35 55 10
Annick Bouvier, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++4122 730 24 58