Victims of Tbilisi flooding fear to return to their houses

Residents of households located in Svanidze Street, partially destroyed during the June flooding in Tbilisi are afraid to return home. They state that until now the city Mayoralty has not requested their documents for payment of compensations.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that, according to official data, during the flooding in Tbilisi on at night on June 14, 19 people perished; and three persons are still missing. The Georgia's Ministry of Public Health has registered 457 people as victims.

On July 1, it became known that Tbilisi authorities began discussing the programme of distributing help to disaster victims. In total, over 25 million laris (about 11 million US dollars) have been allocated for compensations.

A source from the Mayoralty told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the starting date of restoration of destroyed houses is not defined yet.

"The victims are settled in hotels and private houses, or stay with relatives. The formers' accommodation is paid for by the Mayoralty," said the source.

On July 3, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent visited Svanidze Street, where most of the houses were flooded. None of the residents stays there for the night, though the walls of the houses were not damaged. They come during the daytime to collect their remaining belongings and make the cleaning work.

"All the furniture is broken; the floor is in holes; so it's impossible to live here now," said Tamar Djikiya.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.