UPDATED: About 40 individuals evacuated from landslide-affected resort in Georgia’s west
The body told agenda.ge one helicopter crew had already arrived in the location, and added further hardware would be used for the rescue efforts. The Ministry also confirmed no casualties had been reported following the landslide. Photo: Interior Ministry press center
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Updated: 19:51
The Interior Ministry said about 40 individuals have been evacuated from the disaster zone in Georgia’s western Shovi resort, after a landslide hit the area earlier during the day.
Earlier at 19:30
Twelve individuals, including five children, have been evacuated from the disaster zone in Georgia’s western Shovi resort, after a landslide hit the area earlier during the day, the Interior Ministry’s press office said.
The Roads Department of Georgia earlier said it would start “as soon as possible” the clearing and restoration works of the damaged road of Shovi resort.
The body noted the bridges on the 136th and 139th kilometres of the Kutaisi-Alpana-Mamisoni pass highway had been swept away by the landslide, adding the movement of all types of vehicles was prohibited on the mentioned sections of the road.
One of the guests of the Sunset Shovi hotel, affected by the landslide, said about 40 guests were stranded in the vicinity of the hotel, including 12 children.
Photo via Roads Department of Georgia
Earlier at 18:52
Georgia's Interior Ministry on Thursday said emergency management service rescuers and police unit representatives were heading to Shovi resort in the country’s western Racha region after a landslide hit the area earlier during the day.
The body told agenda.ge one helicopter crew had already arrived in the location, and added further hardware would be used for the rescue efforts. The Ministry also confirmed no casualties had been reported following the landslide.
Kristina Kobakhidze, the First Deputy Governor of the Racha-Lechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti region, told media the central road and bridge to the resort had been swept by the landslide, with “problematic sections” developing from the entrance to Shovi.
State Governor Papuna Margvelidze told the Georgian Public Broadcaster authorities were in contact with those affected, adding cottages in the resort had been destroyed.
He added rescue work was already ongoing, with evacuation of individuals from the location included in the plan for the crews.
Heavy rainfall and strong winds affected municipalities in western Georgian regions between Monday and Tuesday, causing damage to buildings and floods in residential homes.
Traffic through the Rikoti Pass crossing between the eastern and western parts of Georgia has been restored following restrictions placed in sections of the area after it was hit by a landslide caused by rain between Wednesday and Thursday, the Roads Department said.
Disaster relief works are underway in the eastern Georgian municipality of Gurjaani, located in the Kakheti region, where houses, roads and dozens of cars were hit by floods and damaged following heavy rains and hail on Thursday.
Heavy rainfall, hail and strong wind between Monday and Wednesday affected municipalities in the central and eastern Georgian regions, causing damage to buildings and floods in residential homes.
The Georgian Interior Ministry on Thursday said about 70 individuals had been transferred to a safe venue from the disaster area as a result of the ongoing rescue operations in the country’s western Oni municipality, after a landslide hit the area earlier during the day.
The ongoing rescue measures in the disaster area in the country’s western Oni municipality, after a landslide hit the area earlier during the day, were discussed at the emergency meeting in the Oni municipality City Hall, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday.
Merab Gamkrelidze, the Deputy Head of Regional Development Department of the Government Administration, late on Thursday said the rescuers, working in the disaster area in Georgia’s western Shovi resort, after a landslide hit the area earlier during the day, were currently searching for about 50 missing people, including children.
The Georgian Interior Ministry on Friday said 400 rescuers and two helicopters were involved in the search and rescue operation for about 35 missing individuals after a landslide hit the Oni municipality in the Racha region in the country’s west on Thursday.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday left for the area in western Georgia’s Shovi resort hit by a landslide on Thursday, the Government Administration said.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday said units from the Georgian Defence Forces would join the ongoing search and rescue operations in the western municipality of Oni to find remaining survivors after a landslide killed at least 11 in the Shovi resort on Thursday.
Georgian Defence Forces on Friday said its units had departed to join the ongoing search and rescue operations in the western municipality of Oni to find remaining survivors after a landslide killed at least 11 in the Shovi resort on Thursday.
Rescuers working in a landslide-hit area in Georgia’s west on Friday recovered a body of a minor in the village of Jumati of Ozurgeti municipality.