Professor Maltsev: in Sochi, we need to restore shore protection structures after each storm to protect Olympic palaces

In Sochi, usual autumn storms have destroyed structures of shore protection in the Imereti Lowland in the area of construction of the Olympic cluster. The construction was carried out in violation of the rules and without considering the conditions of Sochi, and thus, such incidents will repeat periodically. This was stated by Vyacheslav Maltsev, Doctor of Technical Sciences.

Let us remind you that in October, the shore protection structures were affected in the interval from the MzymtaRiver to the PsouRiver on the border with Abkhazia.

"Imereti Lowland is one of the most complex ecosystems in the world. Deposits of rivers used to ensure stable maintenance of the coastal territory. Concrete coastal structures have violated the natural functioning of the rivers to bring gravel. Concrete structures, which were chosen to strengthen the shore, simply sink into sandstone by their weight and slip into sea canyons during storms," Professor Vyacheslav Maltsev, a staff member of the Scientific Research Centre (SRC) "Seashores", comments on the consequences of the next storm.

"The scientists were aware of such attempts to strengthen the shore yet in the last century. Every storm will destroy such shore protection structures. And what we needed was only to retreat from the sea, to leave natural beaches and to build structures in a distance from the natural beaches. However, in Sochi, every piece of land is extremely valuable, and thus, the authorities ignored the opinion of the scientists and the public and decided to implement the project that was faulty from its very beginning," Vyacheslav Maltsev has stated.