Head of the National Environment Agency, Vasil Gedevanishvili met the Natural Hazard Expert of the Swiss independent environmental and geological engineering company Geotest AG, Daniel Tobler.

The National Environment Agency signed a contract with Geotest AG, which conducted research in Georgia’s 22 glacial gorges to identify and assess the threats and plan preventive measures based on satellite material.

The Swiss company completed the initial research phase and discussed the findings with the Agency specialists.

“Together with monitoring the glaciers, studying the Shovi resort tragedy site was significant for us. We made efforts to draft a science-argument opinion. We involved Swiss experts in this process. The Agency’s conclusion was prepared based on modern technologies practised globally, and all processes were identified and calculated.

The information that the Shovi disaster started two hours before the tragedy is based on presumptions and is not argument-based. It could be assessed as an attempt to mislead society,” said Vasil Gedevanishvili.

According to Daniel Tobler, Geotest AG will further examine all existing or feasible land sliding processes for the next 2 months.

“Our main objective is to minimize the actual risk in the settlements, identify the critical areas, and then proceed to monitor these hotspots. We will determine this at the end.

Shovi is the example we use because it was a real event. And based on the results, we can consider all the simulation scenarios and work towards estimating hotspots,” Daniel Tobler remarked.

The head of the Geophisics company Giorgi Gotsiridze, who actively cooperates with the Swiss experts, attended the meeting.