Work resumes at Dariali Gorge

Workers have returned to Dariali Gorge after a three day break to resume clean-up work following the May 17 landslide.

The Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia today said heavy equipment had returned to Dariali Gorge and clean-up work had resumed.

Work temporarily halted on Friday, June 6, when a minor earthquake was detected by monitoring equipment in the mountains above the Gorge. As a safety precaution, the Gorge was evacuated and workers were moved to safe areas.

About 170 emergency response teams working at the site were evacuated from the area.

An alarm signal sounded just before 3pm to alert people in the area of movement in the mountains. Any movement could result in a landslide, officials said.

From May 25 to June 2, the Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department of the European Commission (ECHO) visited Georgia and established several stations on high points in the nearby mountains where specialist equipment would monitor the environment to determine the future risk of landslides. It is believed one of these monitoring stations detected Friday’s minor earthquake.

Once emergency response equipment was in place, the group observed and studied the area and determined it was safe for workers to continue restoring the area and cleaning up the debris.

Meanwhile, emergency crews have worked at the Gorge for the past three weeks to unblock the area and remove excess debris from the valley floor following the landslide.

Twenty-three days on from the initial landslide, the border crossing at Larsi, which is the only border point between Georgia and Russia, still remains closed.