Gov’t calls Shovi landslide “unpreventable”, claims early warning systems to cover whole Georgia “soon”

Otar Shamugia, the Georgian Environment Minister, on Monday called the Shovi landslide in western Georgia “unpreventable” even in the presence of early warning systems, adding the latter would cover the whole country “soon”. 

 

In his press comments, the official said related maps were being developed, which he said would give “more detailed information” on the areas with more risks of disaster, following the promise of current Vice Prime Levan Davitashvili in 2018 that the systems would be “fully launched in up to three years”. 

 

Shamugia said the Government launched the installation of early warning systems in 2014, claiming no such systems were available before that. 

 

He added the latest disaster in the Shovi resort on Thursday had developed “so quickly” that such systems could be ineffective. 

 

“I am speaking based on the conclusion of specialists, who said the specific valley was not considered critically dangerous as no floods or catastrophic events have been recorded over the past 100 years. Therefore, the installation of such systems might be considered as non-essential in the first stage”, he added. 

 

Shamigia also responded to the allegations on the delayed engagement of two helicopters in the rescue efforts after three hours from receiving the notification over the landslide and stopping the operation due to their inability to work during night hours, that their work at night would change “anything”. 

 

For his part, Davitashvili added “unfortunately, sometimes we can not prevent disasters”. 

 

In their comments, the part of the domestic opposition and civil sector representatives said “no one has demanded the authorities to prevent disasters”, but added effective monitoring systems and a smooth work of related agencies could have prevented human tragedies. 

 

In his comments on Monday, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili claimed his office had taken actions to respond to the disaster consequences from “first minutes”, adding 210 individuals had been evacuated from the disaster zone since Thursday. 

 

17 individuals are still missing following the disaster.