The Speaker of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, accused the director of the Institute of Earth Sciences and National Seismic Monitoring Centre, Tea Godoladze, the environmental organization Green Alternative, and the online publication Mountain Stories, of sabotage.
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“In this critical moment, a crisis, when it is important to mobilize, stand together, and publish verified information, unfortunately, during these few days, there was a wave… Georgia was essentially under an information attack.
We have one or two geologists, or, I don’t know who they are by profession, who frequently appeared on TV these days, especially one lady [Tea Godoladze]. We have one or two such people, who are sowing panic during crisis with absolute lies.
What she said was an absolute lie. I don’t know if it was a conscious lie or incompetent ignorance, but the claim that there was waterlogging for two days, which she and some other media outlets were saying, Mountain Stories in particular, as if the water wasn’t flowing or was flowing with reduced current in Buba valley, was a lie. This has been proven scientifically. There’s a sensor installed in the Chanchakhi river and Buba is a tributary of Chanchakhi. I also saw the data for those days and the month and there was no change in water until August 3. So, it was a blatant lie, which was followed up by a second lie, as if water was building up into some kind of open lake; a complete lie that was being spread during times of crisis, which is a sabotage and a stab in the back for the country.
Also, there was supposedly an analysis by the National Environmental Agency showing that a flood was expected in that valley, which in fact it was an absolute lie.
I addressed the Green Alternative several times asking them to refute this lie, but sadly, they did not lift a finger and kept up this lie.
They had outlined the river Dghviora, which is a few hundred meters below, on the other side of this valley. Nothing happened there at all, and even if something did, it would have nothing to do with the Shovi Resort. It is understandable that people do not know geology, but a person should at least know geography,” said Papuashvili.
In Racha, on the territory of Shovi Resort, the glacial avalanche on August 3 destroyed the resort almost completely, so far 19 bodies have been found, of which 14 have been identified. According to official reports, 15 are considered missing, including children.
The catastrophic geological and hydrometeorological events in the Bubistskali river valley on August 3 were caused by the intensive melting of the glacier, rockslide at the base of the mountain, atmospheric precipitation, landslide-erosive processes, and the passage of mudflow, which are related solely to natural factors, as specified by the preliminary report of the National Environmental Agency.
The government states that this tragedy could not have been avoided.
According to the director of Green Alternative, Nino Gujaraidze, the problem existed for at least 9 years, which was more than enough time to plan active monitoring measures in the entire river basin, install early warning systems, and create response plans, which was not done. She added that had these measures been established, there is a solid basis for asserting that the consequences in terms of victims would not be so severe.
The director of the National Seismic Monitoring Center, Tea Godoladze, also believes that it is highly probable that the deaths could have been avoided if we had an early warning system in the Buba river valley.
In the interview with Mountain Stories, hydrologist Nika Tsitelashvili confirmed the same and questioned the conclusions given in the initial assessment.
The speaker of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili directed Mountain Stories on what information to share and what not also on August 5, and demanded the deletion of one of the posts. On the same day, the chairman of the Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, called the editor of Mountain Stories a scoundrel on the air of Imedi TV. Earlier, the editor of the publication, Gela Mtivlishvili, was told by a local official in Shovi that he would “throw him into the water” if he did not “behave.” The head of the Department of Strategic Communication of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Keti Kovziashvili, also expressed dissatisfaction with the work of Mountain Stories.
Mountain Stories was the first to publish information on the natural disaster in Racha. Reporters of the publication have been working in the disaster zone from day one and providing the public with nonstop information.
