DRC was formally approached by the Chechen Government to assist with acute aid in remote mountain-villages already destroyed in the second Chechen war.
"With winter coming we need to provide blankets, bedding and winter coats to the worst affected families in order to secure appropriate living conditions for the winter. The situation is very serious and the government resources limited, so the foreign help we can provide is vital," says Mia Neumann programme coordinator for the DRC in Chechnya.
The earthquake means a significant set back for the efforts to rebuild the war-torn eastern Chechnya, where 126 houses have been extensively damaged and 383 partially damaged in 11 villages in the Kurchaloi District alone.
"Right now we need to provide acute aid but in the long run people must once again begin to rebuild private houses, infrastructure and public buildings. It is a greatly unfair that a natural disaster should strike a population who have already suffered so much but the only thing we can do is start over," says Mia Neumann.