ISFED interviewed individuals left homeless in the aftermath of the June 13-14 natural disaster in Tbilisi and assessed effectiveness of assistance provided to them by the state. 

ISFED was able to interview 33 families only, because information about some affected families was incomplete on the web portal launched by the City Hall and others had already moved to their permanent housings.

ISFED welcomes the fact that all affected individuals received temporary housing (hotel or apartment) in a timely manner, and are provided with dignified housing conditions; the state provided affected families by adequate medical services in a timely manner, as well as with food, household items, personal hygiene objects, clothes, etc.

During the interviews it was found that some families declined state’s offer to move into rented housings because they are concerned by terms of proposed agreements. In particular, rent agreement lists a member of a family affected as the party responsible for paying rent. S/he will receive the rent money on his account on a monthly basis from the administrative agency concerned, based on a verbal agreement. The agreement makes no mention of local authorities – City Hall/Gamgeoba, which makes both renter and a member of affected family reluctant to sign the agreement. Furthermore, affected families are concerned that if they accept the offer of a rented housing, the process of providing them with permanent housing solutions will be delayed.

In some cases providing affected individuals with necessary medication is a problem. In particular, City Hall makes responds to such requests for medication within the term of one month. One of the respondents stated that he had been waiting for his medication for two weeks now. 

ISFED believes that local authorities should effectively communicate with affected families about aims and procedures for moving them into rented housings. It is important that representatives of local authorities personally inform affected individuals about terms and procedures for compensating, and that affected individuals are provided with necessary medication in a timely manner.

The monitoring was performed on July 9-13. Preliminary report of ISFED’s monitoring is available through the link. 

ISFED will continue monitoring assistance provided to families affected by the natural disaster and will provide further updates in subsequent reports.