MOTHER NATURE WRECKS NKR: SEVERE STORM AFTERMATH IN NAGORNO KARABAKH
Repair works of damage caused by a late March storm in Nagorno Karabakh are still in process. The wind speed reached 50 meters/second: old-timers say they haven’t seen such strong wind for the last 50 years. Hundreds of houses were made roofless, trees were uprooted, and in some villages a few houses were destroyed. There were no casualties. Several people were injured by fragments of sheet metal, but they were sent home after getting medical assistance in hospital. Only one woman was seriously hurt, but her condition has already stabilized. The capital of NKR Stepanakert has suffered most of all; Martakert and Hadrut regions were partially damaged. The storm, though, has seriously damaged Karabakh’s economy. According to preliminary data, the damage makes 250 million AMD ($815,000); the storm blew off roofs, tore electric wires, knocked down trees. Roofs of 57 houses and 2 schools in the regions have been blown off completely, roofs of 400 houses, schools, medical centers and village administrations only partly. Eight houses were completely destroyed. Totally 638 buildings were damaged in Stepanakert, 117 out of which are blocks of flats, 436 are private houses and 25 are offices and institutions. The Vice Mayor of Stepanakert George Hayryan says that roofs of 62 blocks of flats were completely ruined, and those of 92 were partly ruined. The houses located in 7 M. Gosh street, Artsakh University’s hostel, 3 and 5 Mashtots street, 11 Raffi street were damaged most of all. Roofs of 40 houses were completely blown off; those of 500 were partly damaged. For a few days Karabakh has been deprived of electricity. Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan heads a storm evaluation committee. During the first session he pointed out that the storm had caught everybody unawares. “We weren’t prepared for nature’s surprises,” said the head of Karabakh government. It’s noteworthy that the meteorological services had not called a storm alert, and people simply had no idea of what was awaiting them that day. According to Stepanakert Mayor Vazgen Mikayelyan, repair works started as soon as the wind trailed off. It took several days to restore transmission facilities. The storm revealed a few significant concerns: first of all insufficiency of qualified labor force. The PM Harutyunyan had raised that issue earlier, saying that the current speed of construction development requires mobile building organizations well-equipped with high technology. The start of big-scale storm repair works made it obvious that Karabakh wouldn’t be able to cope on its own. Seventy constructors arrived from Armenia to do help with repairs. Armenia’s Ministry of Urban Development assisted by providing building materials. Karabakh residents say authorities have responded appropriately. “My husband can fix the roof himself. But materials are expensive. We turned to housing-maintenance office, and they gave us slate,” says Arina Avetisyan, a private house hostess in Stepanakert. “All the problems were quickly solved. On the whole this time we felt special attitude towards us on the part of the authorities. Already in the evening of March 22 all Karabakh mobile network users received SMS from the authorities apologizing for inconveniences and promising to restore power supply as soon as possible,” Avetisyan says. “The roof of our house was completely blown off. The next day the housing-maintenance office employees came, took measurements and said that would repair it all within 10 days,” says Mashtots street resident Ruzan Karapetyan. Some citizens trying to make use of the situation presented ungrounded claims for compensation. Many hid their roofs blown off by the wind in order to receive new roofing slate from the state. That was one of the issues discussed at the session of the storm damage repair headquarters. The heads of regional administrations were told to identify the real scale of damage.
- Naira Hayrumyan
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- 1820 Birth of Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimyan "Hairik" in Van (Western Armenia). He died in 1907.
- 1915 Death of Arshak Vramian, a representative of the Central Committee of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Party.
- 1920 Genocide of the Armenians in Sooshee (Gharabagh).
- 1922 Death of Leopold Favri, benefactor and Swiss-Armenian armenologist. He supported orphanages in the Armenian provinces.
- 1945 Death of Vahan Tekeyan, writer, speaker, and public figure. He was born in 1878.
- 1957 Death of actor Ashot Shaghatoonee. He was born in 1882.
- 1995 Garegin I elected Catholicos of the Armenian Church. He became the 131st Spiritual Leader of Armenian Holy Apostolic Church.
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