Interior Ministry: About 70 individuals “transferred to safety” from Georgia’s western landslide-affected resort
Fire rescue crews of the Emergency Management Service, police units and the representatives of all relevant agencies are being involved in the rescue efforts, the Ministry said. Photo via Interior Ministry
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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 Ministry told Agenda.ge that rescuers had found two people dead during the rescue operation.
The body noted the two border police helicopters, involved in the operation, had already performed three flights from the affected area, adding the rescue operation will continue throughout the night.
Photo via Interior Ministry
About 400 firefighters and rescuers of the Emergency Management Service, police units and the representatives of all relevant agencies are being involved in the rescue efforts, the Ministry said.
Deputy Interior ministers Ioseb Chelidze and Giorgi Butkhuzi, as well as Teimuraz Mgebrishvili, the Head of the Emergency Management Service, are present at the site of the disaster zone and lead the rescue operation.
Photo via Interior Ministry
Maya Pirtskhalaishvili, one of the guests of the Sunset Shovi hotel affected by the landslide, told Agenda.ge that the rescuers had "safely evacuated" all guests of the hotel and they were accommodated in family hotels in Oni.
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.
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.
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.
Ilia II, the Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia’s Orthodox Church on Friday sent his messages of condolence for those killed in a landslide that hit western Georgia’s Shovi resort on Thursday, and shared sympathies for those still missing following the disaster.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday met staff of rescue services working in the western municipality of Oni to find remaining survivors after a landslide killed six in the Shovi resort on Thursday.
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.