“Of course, you can’t prevent a cataclysm, but you can be prepared for it. A preliminary investigation by the Institute of Earth Sciences shows that there may have been enough time, up to half an hour, to alert and evacuate the population. We have a solid basis for asserting that the severity of consequences could have been mitigated, I mean the victims,” says the executive director of the environmental organization Green Alternative, Nino Gujaraidze in an interview with Mountain Stories. On August 3, on the territory of Shovi resort in Racha, a glacial landslide almost completely destroyed the resort, 18 bodies have been found, as many are missing.
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For 4 months, Green Alternative has been requesting a document from the National Environmental Agency, in which the results of the development of geological processes in 2022 and the forecast for 2023 are described. The agency, which operates under the Ministry of Environmental Protection, is obliged by law to publish this document itself so that we are all aware of the dangers. The state is vigorously concealing it, therefore, we do not know what the latest threat assessment document says regarding Shovi, however, Green Alternative has studied the geological bulletins of previous years – Shovi belongs to the areas with particularly heightened geological activity.
The village of Glola also falls within the risk zone of elevated geological activity; the alluvial processes that develop in the valley of the left tributary of the Chanchakhi River endanger the central highway and the infrastructure facilities of the Shovi resort.
The Shovi resort was not assigned a high-risk category of geological hazards only in 2021, due to the problems created by the Dghviora River. Even in the geological bulletin of 2014, where the Shovi resort is also defined as a high-risk zone, one of the right tributaries of the Chanchakhi River is also designated as a threat.
The presence of potentially hazardous natural processes related to the Buba River is also corroborated by the video material published on July 7, 2017, on the website of Oni Municipality's City Hall.
“The problem has been known to exist for at least 9 years. Unfortunately, we have not yet studied the bulletins of prior years. There were 9 years to plan active monitoring measures in the entire river basin, implement early warning systems, and devise appropriate response plans, considering that Shovi is a public resort and a place of mass gathering.
There was more than enough time for implementing these measures, and were they in place, we have a solid basis for asserting that the severity of consequences could have been mitigated, I mean the victims.
The events that unfolded showed that the monitoring system was not functioning properly, we did not have an appropriate response plan, and the population was not informed in advance. Not only the population but also the relevant public agencies who are responsible for responding to such events,” points out Nino Gujaraidze.
According to her, Green Alternative will use every leverage to start an investigation into the Shovi tragedy. “The constitution of Georgia says that the state is responsible for ensuring the safety of our living environment. Therefore, no one else is responsible for this,” says Gujaraidze.
Speaker of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, who was at the disaster site on August 5, accused Green Alternative and Mountain Stories of sabotage.
“Unfortunately, several media outlets, non-governmental organizations, were spreading information as if some research exists which shows that certain procedures need to be conducted in this valley, which is a lie. It [research] concerns a different river, Dghviora, which is on the other side, in another valley. This direct sabotage by spreading such misinformation raises serious question marks regarding the donors of these organizations.
“When donors of Green Alternative and Mountain Stories finance organizations that directly sabotage… during the crisis and try to stir panic, what kind of behavior is this? I don’t know who the donors of these organizations are, but whoever they are, I call on them to look into what they are funding. Is this being friendly to the people?
The organizations financed by them are directly sabotaging the whole process during times of crisis and trying to sow panic. This problem can be dealt with at other times and cause a lesser emotional response, but when these media outlets and non-governmental organizations are backstabbing during such tragedy and crisis management, of course, their donors share responsibility. I urge them to think about this,” said Papuashvili in an interview with First Channel.
We asked Nino Gujaraidze what the government seeks to achieve with such attacks. “First of all, they are in the mode of coming up with excuses and dodging responsibility, which falls on them in any case. We believe that each of them will be held responsible sooner or later. We are thinking of applying to the court for defamation and demanding an apology from Papuashvili.”
