National Environmental Agency Conceals Public Information on Shovi Natural Disaster 

The National Environmental Agency published the initial assessment of the Shovi disaster on August 6. The conclusion places no responsibility on the government.

On August 7, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Otar Shamugia said that the tragedy could not have been avoided.

On August 9, the First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Nino Tandilashvili held a press briefing.The press office of the Ministry did not inform Mountain Stories, which has been covering the Shovi tragedy in depth since day one.

At the briefing, the first deputy minister showed the journalists satellite data and said:

“The data that we received from our international partners, relevant institutions of the United Nations, support the notion that there was no waterlogging, accumulation of water, before the disaster. Our specialists indicated that we had data from the water level measuring station, where no decrease in water level was recorded. It was an instantaneous collapse of a rocky mass. Half a million cubic meters of mass collided with the glacial mass and brought it to the Shovi resort in the shortest possible time. During such natural events, we are dealing with very complex processes; several events coincided. When we talk about the development of a natural disaster of such a scale, according to our specialists, it is practically impossible to predict in advance.”

On August 10, Mountain Stories requested public information from the National Environmental Agency in writing, in particular, case materials [unedited video material (taken from a helicopter and drones) depicting natural processes and their possible causes; observation after a natural disaster; satellite images received from international partners and all other materials received by the agency], which served as basis for the initial assessment on the Shovi natural disaster and the public statements and assessments made by the Minister of Environmental protection and Agriculture and his first deputy.

The legislation obliges the National Environmental Agency to provide the requested public information to Mountain Stories immediately. In the event that the collection of public information requires more time, it should be immediately notified in writing about the possible use of the 10-day period. The agency has neither provided public information to Mountain Stories nor written notice about the need for a 10-day period.

The persons responsible for the public relations service of the agency and the public information are no longer answering the phone calls of Mountain Stories.

This is not the first and only case of the National Environmental Agency breaking the law and blocking public information for Mountain Stories. Mountain Stories has several active legal disputes with the agency and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture - due to the non-handover of documents confirming air pollution as a result of open-pit mining of manganese in the villages of Chiatura, as well as case materials on the transfer of Racha forests to Davit Khidasheli, a partner of a Russian oligarch.

The National Environmental Agency is also not providing Mountain Stories with a geological bulletin - about the results of the development of natural geological processes in Georgia in 2022 and the forecast for 2023.

The agency should publish this document on its website, which it also does not do. The agency also did not hand over the geological bulletin to the environmental organization Green Alternative, which has been in dispute with the state body for more than two months.

It is worth noting that since the fourth day of the natural disaster in Shovi, on the instructions of the government administration, the police have not allowed the journalists of Mountain Stories to enter the disaster zone.