Thursday 8 December 2016

Tragedy, which we will never forget

Hello my dear reader, today my post is not as positive as usual. Today I want to remember the tragedy, which has changed the whole history of Armenian nation.
Whole Armenian children became adults within one day, even without understanding what is going on, we all were able to see the pain, the tragedy on our parents eyes. We haven't know what it means "Earthquake" till we saw it, we felt it, and it has made us to understand, that life is not always beautiful.

28 years ago on 7th of December at 11:41  in Armenian time, the earthquake with magnitude of 6.9 (Richter scale) occurred the northern region of Armenia. The epicenter was in the city Spitak with surrounding villages where the magnitude was 10, in Gyumri  9, Stepanavan 9, Vanadzor 8-9 and Yerevan 6.
According to official data, more than 25 000 people have been killed, 31 000 got injuries and 514 000 people  became homeless.
From one side there was a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, from other side not so good economical situation in the country, and suddenly disaster happens, which takes 1000s of innocent people life.
Many of victims were school pupils and university students, one whole region with three generation was exterminated.
It was the last day for many people. Children have not returned from the schools, students not from universities, parents not from work.
Many of the bodies were not found.


The epicenter was not far below the  surface which account in part for the terrible distractions.
Spital experienced near total destruction.


In Leninakan (Gyumri), Armenia's second largest city with around 300 000, 80 percent  of buildings failed to stand.


The sheer scale of destruction overwhelmed the country's ability to respond.
In total, earthquake destroyed  11 cities, 58 villages, 21 cities have been affected, 342 villages, while the value of the material losses were estimated to be $10 billion US.
Experts conclusion later revealed that main reason for such extensive damage was that the seismic risk had been underestimated, seismic resistance norms for construction has been ignored, construction materials failed to meet state standards.
The worst thing was that officials (at that time controlled by Soviet Government) delayed giving permission to rescuer and relief workers to enter the area. And after 10 days of earthquake, foreign rescue groups were orders to be out from the area.
The last survivor had been taken out from the ruins on December 15.
Out of this, there was lack of knowledge and skills necessary to implement disaster risk reduction activities and awareness of the population during emergency situation.
Unfortunately, after 28 years, not so many things are changed in those regions, some people still live in caravans, the poor presence of earthquake still "appears" in those areas.
 Unemployment and poverty are more terrifying than earthquake, first kills slowly, the second kills suddenly.
Hope, one day these people will also find their small corner and forget about those hapless days.

Wish You all peaceful weekends 

No comments:

Post a Comment