“Such cataclysms, such tragedies, disasters happen in every country. Any talk that it could have been prevented, I think, is just puerile,” said Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili during his visit to the disaster zone in Shovi.
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As for the rescue operation, Garibashvili responded to the TV Pirveli journalist's questions regarding the helicopters that it's a lie, as if the government decided to buy new helicopters, but a year passed and it hasn't purchased them yet.
“Firstly, the helicopters were operating yesterday and today. All those people who were found yesterday, and I emphasize that none of them were injured, were pulled out unharmed by our rescue service. Our services were on site and the situation was completely under control. I didn’t want to talk about this today, but these people… Of course, I will not even comment on the looser politicians and opposition members, but you, your channel and others like you, during such tragedy, where people have been killed and family members are still looking for their loved ones, have been acting immorally all day long – lying to the public, as if the government decided to purchase helicopters, and still hasn’t a year later. Please refrain from such frivolous lies at least in such difficult times. You must have serious problems with information comprehension. All you are doing 24 hours a day is misleading the people and scaremongering. In these tragic circumstances you are fueling people’s anxiety tenfold. You should end this shameful speculation, as if we were going to, but didn’t purchase three helicopters. The most important thing is that 210 of our fellow citizens were pulled out unharmed by our rescue services,” said Garibashvili.
On the journalist’s remark that 31 people were still missing, Irakli Garibashvili responded – “you are a lying channel and you are deceiving the people. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
According to Irakli Garibashvili, there was no need to ask neighboring nations for help.
The disaster claimed at least 11 lives, 25 are still missing. More than 200 people have been extracted from the disaster zone.
The landslide occurred on August 3, around 15:15, triggering a mudslide in the valley. The cataclysm completely destroyed cottages, damaged hotels, swept away cars, and washed away the bridges on the only road to Shovi. Rescuers were able to reach the site 3 hours later only with the border police helicopters. Up to 400 firefighters/rescuers are involved in the rescue operation. 150 of them remained there through the night, while the helicopters ceased operation after dark.
