25 years ago today deadly earthquake shook Armenia. Many families in Gyumri live in cabins till now and there are still collapsed buildings.
December 7, 1988 made a mark in the history of Armenia, as that day many cities were fully or partially destroyed, including Spitak, Leninakan, Kirovakan, Stepanavan, hundreds of villages and residential areas.
25 thousand people died and 500 thousand became homeless.
Araratnews.am talked to member of Gyumri’s city Council member Levon Barseghyan to find out what has changed during these 25 years.
“Only 40% of Gyumri’s citizens remained in Gyumri, whereas every second citizen is poor and every sixth is homeless and these are official numbers, showing that our authorities were not able to overcome the disaster and the city is in deep crisis.
Authorities were unable to eliminate the results of the disaster, though they had promised several times that have accomplished their programs on housing construction and poverty reduction. Gyumri is very fragile. Several nice buildings and beautiful square mean nothing, when the city empties. Over 300 kilometre streets have never been renovated during 25 years, while in Yerevan each street is being renovated twice a year. Our city has a very small budget and is unable to renovate or reconstruct. Our authorities do not notice our problems and if they do, they don’t care as they probably have some other important issues to take care of’, said Levon Barseghyan.
By: Emma Palyan
