The expert answered the questions of concern to the residents of the country – why earthquakes occur so often in Georgia, what threatens Tbilisi with the construction of multi-storey residential complexes and why the construction of the Namakhvani hydroelectric power station in the west of Georgia threatens the safety of residents of the Imereti region.
Georgia is a seismically active region in the Caucasus, and this fact is often neglected by construction companies and investors who invest money in energy projects on the territory of the country. This was stated by the director of the Institute of Earth Studies and the National Center of Seismology, Thea Godoladze.
Godoladze started with one of the most relevant topics of this year – a huge landslide on the slope of Vashlijvari. Traffic on Machavariani Street has been blocked since March this year due to landslide processes that began on the adjacent slope. There were cracks up to 20 meters deep, the width of which increased by about five centimeters every day. According to the assumptions of geologists, about 800 thousand cubic meters of earth mass can fall off the slope and fall on the city.
In the spring of this year, the Tbilisi City Hall, in coordination with German experts, carried out a number of serious strengthening works, thereby stopping the movement of the landslide.
"It is impossible to stop the landslide. This is an irreversible process; the landslide has not gone away. This hill has been prone to landslide masses for centuries, it could not be touched. This is a crime that is not justified in any way. Sooner or later, this mass will continue to move, " Godoladze said.
According to the expert, the chaotic construction of multi – storey buildings is to blame for everything, which is absolutely unacceptable in the whole of Tbilisi from the point of view of security. After all, the area where the city is located is seismically active, respectively, such developments can sooner or later lead to a catastrophe.
"Such areas as Vera and Vake may be considered prestigious in terms of location, but from a geological point of view, these are not prestigious areas at all. There are a lot of problems there, " Godoladze said.
The expert also called the areas of Mtatsminda and Lisi dangerous.
Godoladze did not avoid another topical topic – the construction of a large Namakhvan hydroelectric power station on the Rioni River. According to her, the construction of such a large structure in an area that is poorly studied from a geological point of view is an unjustified risk.
"There is no doubt that the region where the Namakhvani HPP is planned to be built carries many risks and threats from the point of view of geological phenomena. The tectonic processes in this place are simply not studied. We ourselves do not have answers to many questions, we ourselves, geologists, do not fully know what is happening there. When investors come to such an unknown region and are going to build such a structure – it is a huge responsibility."
The construction of the Namakhvani HPP cascade in the Rion Gorge in the Imereti region caused a protest of the local population. The protesters against the construction of the hydroelectric power station demand to terminate the contract with the company because of the environmental threat to the Rion Gorge and the transfer of land to the company for 99 years.

Sputnik-georgia.ru