In 1987, avalanches destroyed several homes and killed at least 80, many of them school children. In the aftermath the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union passed a decree to resettle some 2,500 families to districts of eastern Georgia (eco-migration to Marneuli, Tetritskaro, Bolnisi, Sagarejo, Gardabani, Dmanisi, Kaspi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Ozurgeti, and Lanchkhuti rayons). The end of the Soviet Union and subsequent Georgian Civil War created severe socioeconomic problems in the region. While the Svanetian population resisted the unpleasant conditions of the high mountain environment they lived in for centuries, the increasing economic difficulties of the last two decades and frequent natural disasters — floods and landslides as of April 2005 () have brought about a strong tendency towards migration. The province became a safe haven for criminals threatening local residents and tourists. Large-scale anti-criminal operations carried out by the Georgian Special Forces as of March 2004 resulted in significant improvement of the situation.