Tbilisi residents demand to stop developing earthquake zone

High-rise buildings are being erected in the earthquake-prone zone in Shartava Street in Tbilisi, which threatens the collapse of both the buildings and the hill where they are being built, protesters assert. The construction violates no safety requirements, the Mayoralty has assured.

On September 27, several dozen residents of Tbilisi went out to a protest action in Shartava Street demanding to stop the construction of a 38-storey building.

According to a local resident named Soso, the multi-storey building is being built on a hill, in Shartava Street. "Our house stood in the quietest Vake Street. Now, when huge houses are being built in Shartava Street, we live like on a powder keg. They build and build huge houses, and no one guarantees us that trouble will not happen, that the rock will not collapse and cover our region. Tbilisi is located in an earthquake-prone zone, but authorities wouldn't take this circumstance into account," Soso told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The permit for building a multi-storey house in Shartava Street was issued in 2006. The construction was suspended for some time, and in 2020 the project was approved in an updated form, which is in line with the law, the Tbilisi Mayoralty has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 28, 2021 at 10:52 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.