The President summoned a meeting of the disaster response and recovery task force today, which was attended by the full government cabinet. He gave them special orders and expressed interest in the administered works in the damaged regions. The Head of State first of all gave them orders to provide first aid and shelter to the persons left without houses. Mikheil Saakashvili stated that a hotline has been created at the headquarters of the task force, and each citizen can contact it to give information based on which, the force will react to situations on site.

The President also touched on the issue of restoring infrastructure and stated that it is imperative to clean all the roads before noon tomorrow. According to him, the cleaning service of the Tbilisi Mayor’s office will get involved in the matter tomorrow morning. It will take several days to fully restore communications and the population will receive electricity and natural gas supply step by step in several days.

Mikheil Saakashvili also focused attention on agricultural seeds and plants damaged by the disaster. The President raised an issue of compensating the population and asked the task force to work on restructuring the plan of their loans. As the Prime Minister of the country told the President, the government is already working on it and the issue will be decided in several days time.

Additionally, the President focused attention on the plans which envision importing new breeds and technologies in terms of agriculture. According to Mikheil Saakashvili, this will be quite a relief for the people, whose crops were completely destroyed. He also explained that just like in many developed countries, an insurance system must be adopted in order to avoid losing everything as a result of such disasters. As the President stated, this serves industrialization of agriculture and in this regard the government is on the right track, because foreign experts assess the government’s plan as exemplary.

The Prime Minister stated that the affected population will be separated into three categories. All three categories will receive a grocery package and financial compensation depending on their category.  The government of Georgia is also considering restructuring of agricultural loans and is taking care of technical and financial details in this regard.

The task force will work around the clock and such sessions will be held regularly during next several days. After the end of session, Mikheil Saakashvili inspected restoration works in the streets of Telavi which will continue throughout the night.