U.N. sending humanitarian aid to Georgia

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- The United Nations' food program has begun helping more than 2,000 people displaced by the conflict in the South Ossetia region of Georgia, officials said.

Responding to a request from the Georgian government, the U.N. World Food Program already distributed a 10-day food ration to displaced people living in shelters in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, with more distributions taking place Monday, the United Nations said in a news release.

"The number of people in need of our help is rising by the hour," said Lola Castro, the program's Georgia country director. So far, she said 2,750 internally displaced persons were registered in Tbilisi alone. Other people were living with relatives or in unofficial shelters.

A joint assessment completed Sunday by the World Food Program and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Gori, another hard-hit area, found the Georgian town of about 40,000 people nearly deserted.

The food agency said tens of thousands of people fled South Ossetia during the past four days, most of them to other parts of Georgia. It reported Russia as saying about 30,000 people crossed the border into North Ossetia, which is inside Russia.