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What happened, where and when?
By 16 July 2023, 15 municipalities in six regions of Georgia were heavily affected by a series of unexpected storms, heavy rainfall and flash floods. The storms and floods affected both rural and urban settlements in administrative regions spanning out from the seaside, lower-located, more urbanized areas to the high mountainous, scarcely populated rural settlements.
In rural areas, the disaster had a significant impact on the agricultural sector, with the floods damaging the agricultural fields, destroying crops and killing livestock. Agriculture serves as a crucial source for subsistence and income for the majority of households in the rural and semi-rural areas of all six administrative regions. Apart from damaging the agricultural properties, the heavy flooding profoundly impacted the overall living conditions within the residential houses, causing significant damage to the roofs and ground floors where the families typically store home electronics and stocks of food and hygiene items for longer term use. Most of the residential houses in the rural and semi-rural settlements are built close to the ground and the first floors are usually serve as main residential and storage functions in the houses. The media footage shows the level of the floods reaching to one metre from the ground in several municipalities, especially in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, that has reached into the homes and flooded the furniture and household electronics in the residential homes.
In the urban areas, as a result of the heavy rainfall, the central streets and the ground floors of the buildings were flooded, leading to severe disruptions in transportation and mobility. The storm resulted in the destruction of roads, blockages from fallen trees, and damage to vital infrastructure, such as bridges and power transmission towers.
Several municipalities were left without gas and electricity for more than a day. Flooding disrupted the functioning of Kutaisi International Airport for several hours.
The effect of the disaster on people’s livelihoods becomes more prominent in the light of the socio-economic situation in Georgia. According to World Bank data, Georgia is a lower-middle income country. Data of the National Statistics Agency of Georgia shows that every fifth person residing in the rural area is under the poverty line. Already existing vulnerability of this segment will be further increased due to the disaster-induced negative effect on their livelihoods. Apart from the overall populations’ socio-economic inequalities, access to the public infrastructure and services is also different in the rural and urban areas. Rural areas have usually limited accessibility to the basic infrastructure, compared to the urban settlements, especially, in the high mountainous and remote areas. Therefore, recovery measures take longer to conclude.
Rehabilitation and recovery process will require comprehensive efforts to address the immediate needs of the affected population, including providing shelter, clean water, food, and medical assistance. Repairing and rebuilding damaged infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and power transmission towers will also be crucial, and will be undertaken by the authorities.
Long-term recovery efforts will focus on supporting the agricultural sector and assisting affected households in restoring their livelihoods. This may involve providing financial and/or agricultural assistance, and other forms of support to help farmers recover and rebuild their businesses.
Overall, the regeneration process will necessitate collaborative and endeavors involving the government, humanitarian organizations, and the local community to ensure that the affected areas can recover and rebuild their lives after this devastating disaster.
The Government of Georgia has established a special commission to assess the damage caused by the heavy rain in the affected municipalities of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Imereti, Guria, Kakheti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti Region, and Adjara A/R. The Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, regional and local municipalities, and the Emergency Management Service (EMS) under the Ministry of Interior in Georgia are actively involved in the recovery efforts, including cleaning and restoring the damaged areas, properties, and infrastructure in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.
As the disaster will have a significant implication on people’s livelihoods in affected regions, and the public authority’s response is more focused on the infrastructural recovery, GRCS intends to expand its ongoing DREF operation and support the most vulnerable with covering basic needs through Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) in the newly damaged regions, in addition to the two initial municipalities. The expanded operation will cover 2,800 households in total, making sure that the people are reached with the essential assistance in both regions affected by the flash floods in June as well as in July 2023.