Life in wrecked building – what the people suffered from the special operation request

Natia Gogolashvili

“Every day we are expecting that the building will collapse. Nobody pays us attention. What shall we do?!” complain the inhabitants of the residential building at Monk Gabriel Salosi Street, where anti-terrorist special operation was carried out late in November last year. They are still waiting for the expertise conclusion on the steadiness of the building.

 

Inhabitants of the residential building at the Monk Gabriel Salosi street told humanrights.ge that they were sent back to their homes on December 17, 2017. As they say, after the special operation, the building has more cracks and it is not safe to live there.

“Before moving back, they told us that the building was not damaged. But now we see new cracks in the building; the old ones became bigger. The municipality governor said the building was good to live in and it was not necessary to examine the basement. After the explosions more cracks appeared. The entire building has problem. We asked for the expertise conclusion from the Samkharauli National Bureau of Expertise. Finally the experts came but they just looked around and took photos; there is no conclusion yet,” Tamuna Mukataridze said.

Another inhabitant of the Monk Gabriel Salosi street Mariam Beridze said the building is not strong enough to survive the earthquake because the special operation significantly damaged it.

“We were asking for the expertise conclusion, which could prove that our lives in this building were safe. We are surprised how we trusted them because the conclusion has not been provided yet. When we entered the houses, there were big cracks in the walls. They looked around the building and took photos. I live on the eighth floor; my neighbor has a concrete construction on the façade and it has huge crack. I am afraid the wall will fall down. The crack is in the front wall too. They superficially covered and repaired the parts, which were particularly dangerous. We are very afraid of the earthquake. The building may not survive it. We are afraid for our children. After the special operation the cracks have increased. The explosions particularly damaged one and two-room flats. The window in my flat was deformed,” Mariam Beradze said.

Lawyer of Human Rights Center Tamar Avaliani defends rights of the victim families living in the Monk Gabriel Salosi street. She said it is important to carry out substantial examination of the basement and to estimate how safe it is to live in the building. 

“It is impossible to live in the flats located on some floors of the building. There is no expertise conclusion. The building received status of the third-grade damage that means it has minor cracks. According to the expertise conclusion it was necessary to conduct the basement examination and to estimate how safe it is to live in the building. Today people live in the wrecked building. There were cases that stones fell from the walls; the inhabitants are afraid to send their children out in the yard,” Tamar Avaliani said.

The inhabitants are requesting victim status. “We request examination of the building. The number of cracks has increased and we need to know how safe it is to live in this building. They must examine it well and deliver conclusion; also somebody shall take responsibility for our safety. We request reinforcement of the building as well as the examination by seismologists,” the inhabitants said.

The anti-terrorist special operation in Monk Gabriel Salosi street started late at night to November 22, 2017 and lasted about 20 hours. The explosions damaged the residential buildings. Representatives of the City Hall state the municipal laboratory of the Tbilisi City Hall were studying the condition of the building. However, the residents of the build have not yet seen the expertise conclusion.