What support is Georgia receiving from local and global donors?

The people of Georgia, private and state organisations, global donors and foreign governments are all generously donating to relief funds that will assist the hundreds of people affected by the devastating flood in Tbilisi and help fund the rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure in Georgia’s capital.

As of Friday, June 19, about 17 million GEL has been raised locally and around the globe. Of this, more than six million GEL has been donated by private and legal entities and the rest by governmental bodies.

The money is being collected in three different ways; firstly via commercial banks where people transfer money; secondly via Tbilisi budget where the Government Reserve Fund, the President’s Reserve Fund and the Region’s Development Reserve Fund has donated money; and thirdly through grants, where donor and financial organisations transfer money.

The ‘grants’ account is empty despite €3 million (about 7.62 million GEL) aid from the European Commission. A spokesperson from Georgia’s Finance Ministry explained this money would appear in the account in several days once it was processed.

Georgia’s Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri said the EU grant was intended to be spent on building houses for affected flood victims, while the Government of Georgia and Tbilisi City Hall will allocate land for the project.

Yesterday Khaduri announced the World Bank and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will help Georgia in three main ways. "The first direction is humanitarian aid, the second is assessing the loss and damage and the third direction is managing the medium and long-term risks,” he said.

"Experts from donor organisations will provide a special document [outlining their findings] in two-three weeks. We have already given them a presentation prepared by Tbilisi City Hall which describes the needs of the city and affected families,” Khaduri said.

In recent days the US Development Agency had offered to study the affected territory across the Vere River and also to help restore Tbilisi Zoo, said the Minister.

Emergency Headquarters Meeting yesterday. Photo from Finance Ministry Facebook page. 

Plans to establish a new Tbilisi Zoo near Tbilisi Sea territory have been loosely discussed in recent years. Tbilisi City Hall said the project to build a new Zoo was now ready but it would cost €22 million (about 55 million GEL) to establish an entirely new animal park. In recent days Tbilisi City Hall announced Tbilisi Zoo would be rebuilt in the planned new location.

Black Sea Trade and Development Bank announced it would offer between $50,000–100,000 USD to rebuild Tbilisi Zoo.

Similarly, the Government announced a recreational park would be established in the area now occupied by the flooded Zoo in memory of the people who lost the lives in the flood. Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said the new park would be a "symbol of the unity and solidarity” shown by the people of Georgia, particularly volunteers, as the country worked to overcome the disaster.

The Government estimated flood damage costs may exceed 100 million GEL.

Georgia’s billionaire ex-PM Bidzina Ivanishvili promised he would fill the Tbilisi flood relief funding gap (if there was any shortfall) and he supported the decision to relocate the flood-hit zoo from its current location to the outskirts of the city.

Meanwhile the Asian Development Bank has allocated $11 million USD (about 24 million GEL) for Georgia.

The US, Swedish and German governments noted they were ready to help Georgia recover from the flood, by sending geologists and experts as well as humanitarian assistance.