Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia

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The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture addresses the conclusions on the natural disasters in the Shovi resort and Nergeti village.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture reviews conclusions and reports made by National Environmental Agency specialists on hazardous events that occurred in the Racha region, Shovi resort, on August 3, 2023,  and in the village of Nergeeti, Baghdati Municipality on February 6, 2024.
The presented reports include information on the primary causes of the disaster, results, and recommendations.

The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Mr. Otar Shamugia, emphasized the frequency of natural disasters caused by climate change and the importance of determining the causes of natural disasters, analyzing the possibility or impossibility of prevention, and developing reliable, scientifically based, and objective conclusions.

‘’I would briefly discuss the presented documents and our plans. Firstly, I go over the Shovi resort tragedy and the related events. As you are aware shortly after the disaster, the National Environmental Agency prepared an initial report, which we delivered to specialists and the public, outlining the procedures we were dealing with. We assumed it appropriate to involve international experts in the mentioned process. The National Environmental Agency signed a contract with a highly qualified Swiss company.

It is essential to mention that what was reflected in the initial report by the National Environmental Agency complies with the report prepared by the Swiss company – it involves the development of the natural event, the cause, why the process started, the time and period when it all happened, and that water logging did not occur, both before and after the disaster. We came to a consensus on all of these components. This conclusion also addresses the critical issue, specifically,  in such rapidly developing processes, infrastructure or even early warning systems unfortunately cannot mitigate the threats, and in such cases, the only solution is spatial planning. The consistency of the conclusions once again confirms the very high qualification of our specialists, for which I would like to thank them", said Mr. Otar Shamugia.
 

The Minister emphasized the importance of developing civil security and effective disaster risk management systems and focused on the joint efforts of Georgian and foreign specialists, educational institutions, and independent experts.
 

"Strengthening the capacities of the National Environmental Agency is the primary task. Last year, we allocated additional funds to purchase monitoring systems, and it is also crucial to strengthen the agency with appropriate staff resources.
 

Compared to last year, GEL 13 million has been allocated this year to support the expansion of monitoring systems to the greatest extent possible. Moreover, we plan to assess glacial valleys and landslide areas across the country. We intend to collaborate with the Finnish Meteorological Institute-one of the most advanced institutes in the world, to maintain information systems," said Mr. Otar Shamugia.
 

Mr. Vasil Gedevanishvili, Head of the National Environmental Agency, presented the conclusion and report at the meeting.
 

Field experts stressed the significance of the offered findings, conclusion, and report. As mentioned, the National Environmental Agency has completed and continues work that is crucial in the evaluation/management of the mentioned processes. Field specialists, experts, and scientists expressed their readiness to actively cooperate with the Ministry and the National Environmental Agency in dealing with existing challenges.

The mentioned reports and conclusions have been prepared with the involvement of local and international experts, including the observation of geological, meteorological, and hydrological parameters, historical and current data, information obtained from satellite, radar, aerial photos, field surveys, and geological and hydrometeorological events, based on office studies.

The First Deputy Minister, Mrs.  Nino Tandilashvili, employees of the National Environmental Agency, representatives of educational institutions, specialists, and experts attended the meeting at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture.