Alan Fisher's World

No-one here believes this war is over

Tuesday 12 August
A short drive from the edge of Gori there's a small housing estate. Not a window is intact. Debris is strewn everywhere and the thick acrid smell of smoke hangs heavy in the air. On the balcony of one apartment, a large jagged piece of metal is stuck fast to the railings. As you walk around, the sound of crunching glass punctuates every step. The bombing here came without warning as people did what people do. They say 60 died here.
In the main square, a huge statue of Stalin dominates. This is his home town.
     At the local pharmacy and cafe, the owner walks from room to room, crying as she surveys the damage. She has no words. Her assistant sweeps the shattered glass. It makes little difference, but for her, it's a start.
     There are few people in the town, and no sign of the soldiers who should have been here to protect them but who became a target for the Russian aircraft. Those who stayed have been told there's a ceasefire, but they've spent the last five days running for their lives, hiding where they could and hoping the bombs would fall somewhere else. This was a war which started without warning. No one's ready to believe it's finally over.
     Aermane Mazanshisvili lived here most of his life. He tells me: 'We just heard a huge noise, a boom. Nobody knew it was coming. They were out on the streets and the bombs hit, buildings were wrecked, glass was everywhere, cars destroyed and people injured. It was awful.'
     Around the corner, the TV station is deserted. Five peole died here in the morning attack. The buildings are pockmarked by shrapnel. On the wall inside, the clock marks 10.08, the moment the bomb fell. One man holds up the fragments. 'It explodes before it hits the ground. It doesn't leave a crater but sprays hot metal. Lethal.'
     We try to drive to another street but locals start waving at us frantically. 'There is a bomb in the building that hasn't gone off,' shouts one man. The war may be over, the danger isn't.

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