Natural disaster has damaged the villages of Gori municipality

Lado Bitchashvili, Shida kartli

On May 31, hail destroyed the harvest of Olia Beruashvili, resident of village Sveneti of Gori municipality. Her main income is a pension. She made an advance withdrawal of her pension as a credit to buy chemicals for the fruit garden. Beruashvili asks the Government to examine and compensate the damage caused by the disaster. 

“I am 76 years old and I saw this kind of hail for the first time. The hail destroyed our fruit garden and damaged our roof.  I have taken 23 months pension in advance and my efforts were all for nothing in the end,”_ said Olia Beruashvili. 

The hail destroyed harvest in village Kheltubani too. According to the locals, the hail caused them a huge damage. 

“Agricultural crops have been damaged, fruit and vegetables. We have never seen a hail like this,” –said the resident of village Kheltubani, Giorgi Bashinjakheli.

The disaster mostly damaged the following villages of Gori municipality: Mereti, Gugutiantkari, Zardiaantkari, Koshka, Karbi and Sobisi.

According to the locals of Sobisi, if the state does not compensate the damage, they will not be able to cover bank credits and, in addition to destroyed harvest, they will lose their houses.

Three days after the disaster, Governor of Gori municipality and MP of Gori visited Sobisi. The locals showed them fruits and gardens destroyed by the disaster and asked for indemnification. 

Governor of Gori municipality told them that local budget has no funds for indemnification and proposed them insurance for harvest, 95% of which will be paid by the state. 

“A lot of people have no insurance for their harvest and this causes problems. We are assessing the damage in order to send it to the Government,”- said Governor of Gori municipality, David Oniashvili.

The deputy of Gori municipality assembly Khatuna Khatashvili has no hope that the Government will compensate the damage caused by the disaster. 

“Last year, almost 40 villages of Gori municipality were damaged as a result of hail. After that, the commission was set up which examined the damage, but no one received a single Tetri as a compensation. That is why I think that the locals should insure their harvest,”- said Khatuna Khatashvili. 

Governor of Gori municipality proposed the locals to create an initiative group by themselves to assess the damage together with the commission.