正當工人馬不停蹄趕工，要讓素溪這個黑海旁的渡假勝地成為冬奧場地時，他們並未注意到這些工程對下方村落造成的影響；直到佛洛契科娃兩層樓的房舍倒塌、裂縫悄悄爬上當地房舍。
（上圖）素溪艾克塔村附近的採石場一景，圖攝於2013年10月13日。（圖文／路透）
房屋傾倒 正進行賠償官司
這位58歲的家庭主婦現居於一棟鋁製陋屋中，一邊和奧運承包商打著賠償官司；她認為這些破壞是奧運包商造成的。
素溪附近村落也出現類似抗議，民眾抱怨住家傾倒、周遭出現非法垃圾掩埋場，政府也違背當時說建造工程不會毒害他們生活的承諾。
俄國總統蒲亭預計將花費逾5百億美元（約新台幣1.5兆）在素溪冬奧上，企圖展現俄國現代化的一面。當局曾承諾，要為奧運工程設立「環保新標準」。
然而，對於建設工程的種種抱怨，伴隨著國際間對同志權益及安全問題的顧慮，讓蒲亭想透過冬奧改善俄國形象的努力飽受威脅。
2014素溪冬奧籌辦委員會表示，建設工程已將有害的二氧化碳排放量降到最低，執行工程的公司也表示，他們遵守承諾，在保護環境的措施上符合國際標準。
然而，部分生態學者說破壞才正要開始；建設工程可能已讓當地面臨潛在的生態災難，包括飲用水污染及水災。
井水乾涸 沙塵漫天
在艾克塔村，自從俄國國營鐵路公司開始挖掘一座緊鄰高加索山麓丘陵上的採石場後，村民數世紀來使用的水井便乾涸了。
自此之後，鐵路公司幾乎每天都得載送桶裝水給艾克塔村的居民。
這座採石場提供了冬奧場地建設所需的石材。卡車每隔幾分鐘就隆隆駛過，將石塊運往下方的工地。
村民科洛波夫表示，當地政府在建設開工時集合村民，表示他們不久後將享有天然氣網絡及區域水系統。
「我們以為他們能帶來文明及發展；但相反的，我們現在的生活比2百年前美國保留區的印第安人還要糟。」科洛波夫說。
村民說，這些卡車也從其他工地帶來垃圾，傾倒在步行可達的山谷中，整個村落更籠罩在漫天沙塵中。
俄國鐵路公司表示，他們已支付了非法傾倒的罰款，之後也停止這項行為，但居民表示，卡車仍持續將垃圾倒到掩埋場中。
工程垃圾污染飲用水
當地環保人士表示，這些垃圾本身或許不會造成直接危害，但那些滲入土地、流入鄰近米契塔河的雨水，就有遭垃圾污染的風險，而米契塔河正是素溪居民的飲用水來源。
「這些物質累積在水中，有可能造成有毒污染，因為根本沒有人確切知道掩埋場中的垃圾是什麼、又從哪裡來。」位於素溪的俄羅斯地理學會發言人納比惠贊那亞表示。
紐約的人權觀察指出，納比惠贊那亞是素溪數個因工被騷擾的環保人士之一。
其他環境運動者則因公開反抗當局而背負刑事訴訟，環保人士加扎爾揚就是其中之一，他在面臨刑事指控後獲得愛沙尼亞庇護，並稱這些指控是受政治驅使。
排水系統損壞 飽受水患威脅
環境專家表示，奧運建設工程包括將土壤填進低地沼澤中；這讓此地更易遭水患侵襲，例如去年9月的緊急狀況，此外也升高未來水災發生的機率。
「那場降雨可說是在測試我們對一個相對普通的事件做好多少準備。而那次經驗顯現出奧運建設失敗的程度；當局在移除舊排水系統後裝上的新設施並不管用。」專精於環保法的律師蘇契科夫說。
水災過後數個月，居民們抱怨，就算是在晴天地板也是溼答答的。
對大部分居民來說，他們將可能伴隨著奧運而來的國際關注視為最後的發聲機會，但有些人已經沒有繼續奮戰的力氣。
「我真的好累，負擔好重。」佛洛契科娃說，淚水在她眼眶打轉。她關上鋁製小屋的門，這棟房子就坐落在她的舊家廢墟上。「我現在只想睡覺而已。」她說。（路透）
▲艾克塔村一位村民壓著已乾涸水井的把手，圖攝於2013年10月12日。（圖文／路透）
As builders worked feverishly to get the Black Sea resort ready for winter games, they failed to notice the effects their work was having on the village below. Until the walls of Vorochkova's two-storey home fell. Tell-tale cracks snaked through neighbouring houses.
The 58-year-old housewife now lives in an aluminium shack and is fighting a legal battle for compensation over damage she blames on Olympic subcontractors（1）.
Other villages near Sochi offer similar complaints of ruined homes, illegal landfills（2） and broken promises that their lives would not be poisoned by construction.
Putin is expected to spend more than $50 billion to show off Russia's modern face at the Games in Sochi. Moscow promised to set "new environmental standards" in Olympic construction.
Complaints about construction, along with international concerns about gay rights and security, threaten Putin's efforts to improve Russia's image through the games.
The Sochi 2014 organising committee says construction has minimised harmful carbon emissions, and companies carrying out construction say they are sticking to their promises to meet international standards in protecting the environment.
But some ecologists say the damage is only the beginning and that construction may have put the region in the path of potential ecological disasters, including poisoned drinking water and flooding.
In the village of Akhshtyr, the wells used by villagers for centuries have dried up since Russian Railways started digging a quarry（3） in the adjacent foothills of the Caucasus Mountains.
Since the wells dried up, the company has delivered almost daily barrels of water to Akhshtyr residents.
The quarries have provided rock used in the construction of Olympic venues（4）. Trucks rumble past every few minutes, carrying stones to the construction sites below.
One villager, Alexander Koropov, said that when construction started, local authorities gathered villagers to explain that they would soon be linked into a natural gas grid and a regional water system.
"We thought they would bring us civilisation, development, but instead we are now living worse than the Indians did on American reservations 200 years ago," said Koropov.
Villagers say the trucks bring in trash from other construction sites, dumping it in the gorge within walking distance. A dust cloud covers the village.
Russian Railways says it paid a fine for the illegal dumping and has since stopped the practice, though residents say trucks continue to haul trash into the landfill.
While the trash itself poses no direct danger, rainwater flowing into the ground and into the nearby Mzymta River, which is used by Sochi residents for drinking water, is at risk of being contaminated by the waste, say local environmentalists.
"When the substances accumulate, it can have a toxic effect, because no one knows exactly what those materials in the landfill are comprised of, where they have come from," said Yulia Naberezhnaya, spokeswoman for the Russian Geographical Society in Sochi.
Naberezhnaya is one of many Sochi environmental activists who New York-based Human Rights Watch says have been harassed over her work.
Other environmental activists have had criminal cases opened against them, including Suren Gazaryan, who received asylum in Estonia after facing criminal accusations which he called politically motivated.
Environmental experts say that Olympic construction which has consisted of pouring soil into lowland swamps helped cause the flooding that created a state of emergency in the area in September and could increase the risk for more flooding.
"Those rains were a test to see how prepared we were for a relatively normal occurrence. And it showed the extent to which our Olympic construction failed after getting rid of old drainage（5） systems and installing new ones that don't work," said Valery Suchkov, a lawyer specialising in environmental law.
Months after the flooding, residents complain that the ground even on a sunny day is still damp.
For most residents, they see the attention that the Olympics will bring as a final chance to be heard, but some barely have the strength left to fight.
"I'm just tired, it's too much," says Vorochkova, with tears in her eyes, closing the door to her aluminium shack that sits across from the ruin of her old house. "All I want to do is sleep," she said.（Reuters）
關鍵字詞
1.subcontractor（n.）承包商
2.landfill（n.）垃圾掩埋場
3.quarry（n.）採石場
4.venue（n.）競賽場地
5.drainage（n.）排水系統
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