The village of Nergeeti in Baghdati, where a landslide occurred late at night on February 7, burying four residential houses, had been designated as a particularly high-risk area for natural geological processes by the National Environment Agency. Rescuers recovered the bodies of four individuals in Nergeeti, while five people, including children, remain missing.
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Widespread dangerous geological processes in the territory of Baghdati municipality pose a threat to residential houses and agricultural plots, as well as roads and other infrastructural objects, according to the National Environment Agency’s document. It took a court case for Georgian News to obtain this document, whilst it should be available to everyone.
In the Imereti region, there are 86 settlements categorized as high-risk areas, 164 as medium-risk areas, and 160 as low-risk areas.
The village of Tsoniarisi in the Keda municipality is designated as a particularly high-risk area due to natural geological processes. On February 6, a landslide in Tsoniarisi claimed the life of 55-year-old Temur Baramidze.
“Temur Baramidze's family had received compensation under the eviction relocation program and had relocated to another area since 2020. Unfortunately, he was in Tsoniarisi on the day of the disaster, where he lost his life,” stated Imeda Vasadze, the first deputy mayor of Keda municipality in an interview with Georgian News.
According to residents of Tsoniarisi, Temur Baramidze, and his wife exited their house immediately after the land mass began to shift, but Baramidze returned to retrieve his phone, at which point their home was engulfed by the landslide. Rescuers were unable to reach the site promptly due to poor road conditions.
A document from the National Environment Agency indicates that 129 settlements in Adjara are in high-risk zones, with an additional 110 in medium-risk zones.
Specialists attribute the prevalence of hazardous geological processes in Adjara to several factors, with climatic conditions playing a crucial role. Adjara experiences excessive precipitation due to its proximity to the Black Sea. The rapid climate fluctuations and abundant atmospheric precipitation, along with the periodic occurrence of heavy rains and snowfall, directly contribute to the occurrence of hazardous geological processes.
