fifteen-year-old otar bazandarashvili (left) stands inside what is left of his family’s home near gori, georgia. the house was destroyed when russian forces moved into the city. he is staying with nika (right), his 8-year-old neighbor. otar’s family received $15,000 usd from the georgian government to reconstruct their home. photo | jeffrey austin |
DESTROYED IN A WEEK
writer: adam hanson
photographer: jonathan alpeyrie | jeffrey austin
(story synopsis)
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When Georgia gained independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, its vibrant agriculture- and tourism-based economy disintegrated. Two regional ethnic groups, the Abkhazians and the Ossetians, sought to create independent states within Georgia’s borders. The resulting bloody civil war ended in a relative stalemate a year later after the conflict had displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes. Most of Georgia’s citizens became subsistence farmers. Aid organizations such as Action Against Hunger, Mercy Corps and United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) worked to help impoverished Georgians improve their agricultural practices, build infrastructure and meet their health care needs.
In August 2008 war again broke out between the Georgian government and separatist factions. Russian forces engaged in the conflict, citing “Georgian belligerence against Russian citizens.” |
priests and local volunteers distribute bread a week after the russian invasion. food became scarce during the blockade. photo | jonathan alpeyrie |
Over 130,000 more Georgians fled as Russian troops advanced towards them. Mortar shells and bombs pounded into city buildings and entire villages burned to the ground. Although the war lasted just over a week, there was more than $1 billion USD of damage, according to Georgian officials. Currently, aid organizations working in Georgia must rush to ensure that those who fled empty-handed as their homes were destroyed can survive the long winter. |
a russian infantry soldier gives some of his unit’s food to passing gori citizens. his unit is guarding an important bridge which is the only way in and out of the east part of the town. georgians were usually well-treated inside gori by russian soldiers, who share the same religion — an important factor for these men who invaded an old ally. photo | jonathan alpeyrie |
umcor distributes hygiene kits and pharmaceuticals at this soup kitchen for vulnerable adults in tbilisi. photo | jeffrey austin |
Aliona Nukradze raised her two children on a small cattle farm in the village of Charebi. In the villages around her, armed Ossetian separatists occasionally clashed with Georgian government forces, but Nukradze was hopeful that these disagreements would eventually be worked out peacefully. In the first days of August 2008, the conflict escalated dramatically and people in Nukradze’s village feared for their lives. She says, “We began to notice that the situation got more and more tense, so many of our fellow villagers left their homes to hide in an old abandoned house in the forest. |
| On the eighth of August, that very house was bombed. ... It was the first time I was face-to-face with death. After the bombing we were forced to run deeper into the forest with just the clothes on our backs. Several of our countrymen were killed, some were wounded. We spent three days in the forest without any food. We made our way to Gori, but only two days later Gori was also occupied by Russian troops.” |
a family lives in an idp center in a vacant building in the town of zugdidi. they were displaced by the war 17 years ago. twenty-nine other families live in this building with no electricity, no water and outside toilets. photo | jeffrey austin |
action against hunger - usa
247 west 37th street, 10th floor
new york, ny 10018
usa
212.967.7800 or 877.777.1420
info@actionagainsthunger.org
www.actionagainsthunger.org
mercy corps
dept. w
po box 2669
portland, or 97208
usa
800.292.3355 or 888.256.1900
www.mercycorps.org
united methodist committee on relief (umcor)
475 riverside drive, room 330
new york, ny 10115
usa
800.554.8583
umcor@gbgm-umc.org
www.umcor.org |
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