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Ecological Disaster in Ninotsminda

November 26, 2004

Ecological Disaster in Ninotsminda

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Residents of Sagaredjo Region are still experiencing the horrible results of oil disaster that took place on September 10, 2004. Due to the fact that for three days oil and gas had been gushing out of a borehole following a well blowout a big part of woods was destroyed, water and earth were polluted and as a result of inhaling the gas the residents were poisoned and children turned out to be in particularly heavy condition. They turned out to have intoxicative bacteria in the blood. Two months have already passed from the occurrence of the above-mentioned fact and residents of Ninotsminda are still without drinking water. Nobody takes care of their health. The financial assistance of 100-150GEL which was provided by the oil company during the first days of the catastrophe can’t compensate the losses of the harvest and is not enough to help the population in restoring their health. No alternative expertise has been conducted to study the environment. It still remains unknown what kind of gas gushed out and what poisonous substances the population had been inhaling during the three days. Concealing the information from the international community and intimidating the population still goes on. Why does the government put the interests of the oil company higher than the interests of the people?

On September 10 of the current year the population of Sagaredjo Region had the unexpected misfortune to experience the oil rain. Gas and oil began jetting out from N100 well which had been capped for several months before the catastrophe and only repair works had been going on.  According to Temur Gogilashvili, the manager of the oil company the blow out occurred due to uncontrollable and unforeseeable processes happening deep in the earth; “Oil and gas began flowing because of significant pressure. It has not yet been established what amount of oil blew out, but we managed to stop the oil with our forces in three days” – stated Gogilashvili.

Residents of village Ninotsminda turned out to be in particularly heavy conditions who were astonished to watch the oil-rain continuing for three days and spread by the wind. Besides the fact that this disaster made the people fall into panic many of them had symptoms of poisoning: “Our eyes got red, we began to have a sour throat, then we had pimples on our bodies and felt sick. The same happened to the children and there were queues in hospitals”- complained to us the population of Ninotsminda during our visit to the village.

They also said that the medical assistance provided by the oil company was no use at all as “they did not give us the medicines we needed; they kept saying they did not have it and did not give the correct diagnosis”. The medicines distributed in the population were just cheap sedatives and anti-allergy drugs. Most of the population did not afford to undergo the needed treatment with own expenses, only very few of them managed to take children to the capital for treatment and are still under treatment.

According to the population of the village it was impossible to find out the truth during the first three weeks. The doctors did not give the correct diagnosis as the pressure had been exercised on them. They also said that all the laboratories were locked in order not to put the right diagnosis. Later it turned out that children had poisonous bacteria in the blood.

Representatives of the oil company deny the fact of the population’s being poisoned and state that “it is true the people inhaled certain amount of the gas which caused some symptoms and illnesses only in the people who had been suffering from heart troubles, allergy and lungs problems before. But the gas did not represent any danger for the healthy people”.

It should also be noted that no alternative expertise has been conducted to study the surrounding environment. The conclusions made by the expertise which was invited by the oil company cannot be considered as absolutely right as the expertise was only conducted on the fourth day from the disaster when the oil and gas were blown away by the wind and for this reason the expertise is not sure to give the real picture of the happening.

The residents feel confused and unprotected as they can feel support neither from the oil company nor from the government. The government puts the interests of the company higher than the interests of the people and is trying to conceal the fact from the society. The thing that even mass media does not take big interest in the fact gives rise to serious suspicions in the population and serves as a big reason for their concern. One thing is really clear – the government does everything to keep the fact concealed from the international community.

Human Rights Information and Documentation Centre expresses major concern about the ecological disaster occurred in Ninotsminda and demands impartial investigation of the fact, conducting of alternative expertise and giving compensation to the population.

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