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A Day of Infamy


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#1 Arpa

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Posted 07 December 2002 - 06:40 PM

http://www.historych...speech_260.html

THose who have Real Audio or some such, click on the URL and listen, also read the text.
Change the date to December Seven, 1988 and contemplate about mans' inhumanity. In our case it would be man's stupidity and hypocrisy.
We are the world's most locacious people when it comes to "patriotism", yet it sems like our definistion of the word is based on how many so called patritic songs one knows by heart, while in the meantime we steal and rob, cheat an lie. WE mix sand with sand and call it concrete. We build houses and apartment buildings that is unfit for one's enemy.... and then....we weep and lament, curse nature for its cruelty.
It is unheard of, not even in Bangladesh that 25,000 souls would perish by a run of the mill earthquate.
Oh! I forget. How silly!
We are the world's first.... First to set the record of dead from a medium magnitude earthquake the wake of which still lingers after 14 years. There are still people living in abject poverty and subject to the mercy of nature in metal containers and huts.

Tell me about patriotism and Christian Chariry!!!
In case we have fogotten, we are the World's First Christian Nation yet we build death traps instead of buildings for our own compatriots.

PS. Please don't blame Marxism, Leninism or any other ism for our sins.
It is cynicism and lack of patriotism.

#2 15levels

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Posted 08 December 2002 - 03:58 AM

We (students of the Art Institute and Terlemezian) were the first help to arrive in Nalband village (which was the epicenter of the earthquake). I have seen with my own eyes the ruins of Leninakan and Spitak, you are so right, the blame is on those who stole the building materials, those who closed their eyes on the theft and/or profit from it indirectly. I dont think those people sleep well at night even today. Today Guimri is still in very bad shape, I was there on the way to Agchbat Monastery, we passed Spitak on the way too. So difficult to see how hard the life is there for people. I want you to take a look at this:

http://photography.1...ndonedchild.jpg

My heart was bleeding...

#3 Accelerated

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Posted 08 December 2002 - 05:34 PM

quote:
PS. Please don't blame Marxism, Leninism or any other ism for our sins.
It is cynicism and lack of patriotism.

quote:
you are so right, the blame is on those who stole the building materials,
Everyone stole, if it wasnt building materials, then it was something else. The whole system was designed (unintentionally) so that the only way one could have a relativelly comfortable life was if he/she stole from the state, took bribes etc. I am not saying that only the system is to blame, but it certainly suited Armenians nicelly. And indeed we do need more REAL patriotism, not just talk....

#4 Arpa

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Posted 07 December 2006 - 06:07 PM

ABC News had to remind me that ….
Today, Dec. 7 2006 is the 18th anniversary of that Day of Infamy on Dec. 7 1988. THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE.
Have we corrected that “infamy” off of our destiny yet? Or are there Gumretis, Spitaketsis and Vandzortsis still living in steel tanks known as domiks?

#5 Anoushik

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Posted 08 December 2006 - 12:32 AM

Most people have moved out of domiks. Some were given apartments, but most have to rent their homes sad.gif

#6 Armenak

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Posted 08 December 2006 - 01:29 AM

World Press Photo of the Year: 1988



David Turnley, USA, Black Star/Detroit Free Press.
Leninakan, USSR, December 1988.
Boris Abgarzian grieves for his 17-year-old son, victim of the Armenian earthquake.

About the 1988 image
Traveling with his twin brother in Armenia at the time of the earthquake, Turnley and his sibling were struck by the selflessness of the Armenian people, who were literally willing to give you the clothes off their own backs, even if that was the last material thing they owned.

#7 Arpa

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Posted 07 December 2010 - 09:38 AM


Related.
When will ever learn. When will we learn.
Are we BLOWING IN THE WIND- ՄԻԹԷ ՔԱՄԻ ԵՆՔ ՓՉՈՒՄ?
I saw Kumayri when it was a virtual ghost city with those buildings crumbled like houses of card.
http://www.huffingto...se of cards.jpg

How many roads must a man walk down
Before they call him a man
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand
How many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they are forever banned
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

How many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea
How many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free
How many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky
How many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry
How many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind


Posted Image

http://www.armeniano...uake_architects


News | 07.12.10 | 13:16
Catastrophe Waiting to Happen?: Architects, seismologists call dense construction a risk in quake-prone Armenia

NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow
Seismologists say if Yerevan experiences an earthquake measuring 7, the number of victims will reach 300,000
Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow intern
Architects in Armenia are worried that mushrooming buildings and dense construction in capital Yerevan may spell danger for the city should an earthquake similar to the one 22 years ago strike again.
Seismologists estimate that if Yerevan experiences an earthquake measuring 7, the number of victims will reach 300,000 because of dense residence and faulty residential and office construction.
An earthquake of about the same magnitude killed 25,000 and crippled many more in northern Armenian provinces on December 7, 1988. Spitak, Gyumri and several nearby villages were razed to the ground after the powerful tremors, with an estimated 1.5 million people losing shelter. The consequences of that powerful quake can still be felt today across the Shirak and Lori regions of Armenia where many people still live in makeshift housing. Architects’ Union Head Mkrtich Minasyan says Armenia, a country situated in one of the globe’s seismically active areas, should have learned the lessons of that devastating earthquake. “Yerevan is overloaded. No lessons have been learned from the Spitak earthquake. If another quake strikes, this density of buildings will result in destruction of the same scale,” said Minasyan. “It is possible that the buildings would remain standing due to their strength, but their density in violation of construction norms would not allow for rescue work.” The poor quality of construction was widely blamed for the vast destruction that occurred in Gyumri and Spitak in the 1988 earthquake. After that disaster, new international research was conducted to conclude that Armenia is in a zone that may experience earthquakes measuring 9 and higher on the Richter magnitude scale (and not maximum 7 as it was thought during the Soviet times, with construction norms fitting the 7-point earthquake-resistance construction standards). Alvaro Antonyan, who heads the National Seismic Protection Service (NSPS) in Armenia, says that newly constructed buildings are much more stable and have a higher quality. But the density of these constructions, he says, is alarming. “Developers have either forgotten the 1988 earthquake, or have been blinded by construction business revenues. The city has an inadmissible density of construction,” Antonyan told ArmeniaNow. Yerevan is said to be particularly in trouble as about 40 percent of its Soviet-era residential construction is viewed as having an unsatisfactory condition in terms of seismic stability. “During the Soviet times construction was of poor quality. Today’s new buildings are of good quality, but are outside control, we have no leverage to check their seismic safety,” says head of the NSPS department for buildings and construction seismic resistance Gurgen Amalyan. Architects also complain that they have no control of the situation either in ensuring the safety standards of construction or the city’s architectural appearance. “When we raise the issue of building density, administrative bodies start talking to us as if we were their enemy. This means that our voice is not heard,” says Architects’ Union Minasyan.

http://news.am/eng/news/40692.html

Edited by Arpa, 07 December 2010 - 10:52 AM.


#8 Arpa

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 11:08 AM

This post may better fit our Topic- “Our Ugly Side”.
Please forgive me. Every time I see eartquake stories I can't but remember those horrible days. :msn-cry: :angry:
---

The Spitak Earthquake (also called Leninakan Earthquake and Gyumri Earthquake) was a tremor with a magnitude of 6.9,[2] that took place on December 7, 1988 at 11:41 local time (07:41 UTC) in the Spitak region of Armenia, then part of the Soviet Union. The earthquake killed at least 25,000 people;[1] geologists and earthquake engineering experts laid the blame on the poorly built support structures of apartments and other buildings built during the "stagnation" era of Leonid Brezhnev.[3]

Tokyo's population tops 130 million where only one street has a higher population than the entire country of Armenia.
---
Note below that an increment of one whole number on the scale means ten fold. Note that, even if the Armenian Earthquaqe at 6.9 was not trivial, compare that with 8.9 in Japan. Compare 25.000 dead and several times those maimed and injured, of a population less than 3 million and that with population of Japan over 130 million, where reposted dead is only in the hundreds.
OK, OK, shut me up and tell us how we are the smartest and the most ethical Christian people.**
-----
8.9 quake kills hundreds in Japan
The quake triggers a tsunami that threatens much of the Pacific. Up to 300 bodies are found in the city of Sendai in northeastern Japan, an area believed to have been hit hardest by the massive waves.
http://en.wikipedia....rgyGraph-en.svg

Richter magnitudes
Graph showing frequency (per century; blue line) and energy (brown bars) for the Richter scale. The graph is doubly logarithmic and both axes are numerically identical.
The Richter magnitude of an earthquake is determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs (adjustments are included to compensate for the variation in the distance between the various seismographs and the epicenter of the earthquake). The original formula is:[5]

where A is the maximum excursion of the Wood-Anderson seismograph, the empirical function A0 depends only on the epicentral distance of the station, δ. In practice, readings from all observing stations are averaged after adjustment with station-specific corrections to obtain the ML value.
Because of the logarithmic basis of the scale, each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in measured amplitude; in terms of energy, each whole number increase corresponds to an increase of about 31.6 times the amount of energy released, and each increase of 0.2 corresponds to a doubling of the energy released.
Events with magnitudes of about 4.6 or greater are strong enough to be recorded by any of the seismographs in the world, given that the seismograph's sensors are not located in an earthquake's shadow.
The following describes the typical effects of earthquakes of various magnitudes near the epicenter. The values are typical only and should be taken with extreme caution, since intensity and thus ground effects depend not only on the magnitude, but also on the distance to the epicenter, the depth of the earthquake's focus beneath the epicenter, and geological conditions (certain terrains can amplify seismic signals).
Richter magnitudes
Description
Earthquake effects
Frequency of occurrence
Less than 2.0MicroMicro earthquakes, not felt.[6] About 8,000 per day
2.0–2.9 Minor Generally not felt, but recorded. About 1,000 per day
3.0–3.9 Often felt, but rarely causes damage. 49,000 per year (est.)
4.0–4.9 Light Noticeable shaking of indoor items, rattling noises. Significant damage unlikely. 6,200 per year (est.)
5.0–5.9 Moderate Can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions. At most slight damage to well-designed buildings. 800 per year
6.0–6.9 Strong Can be destructive in areas up to about 160 kilometres (100 mi) across in populated areas. 120 per year
7.0–7.9 Major Can cause serious damage over larger areas.18 per year
8.0–8.9 Great Can cause serious damage in areas several hundred miles across.1 per year
9.0–9.9 Devastating in areas several thousand miles across.
1 per 20 years
10.0+ Epic Never recorded; see below for equivalent seismic energy yield.
Extremely rare (Unknown)
(Based on U.S. Geological Survey documents.)[7]

---
** Speaking of which, here is what the Founder of Christianity Jesus said about “building on/with sand”.Some of us may still hink the whole thing was a cruel joke. See post #7 above.

Matt.7
25] And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
[26] And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
[27] And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
----
25անձրևները թափուեցին, և գետերը յորդեցին, հողﬔրը փչեցին և զարկեցին այդ տանը, բայց չկործանուեց, որովհետև ժայռի վրայ էր հաստատուած:
26Իսկ ով որ լսում է իմ այս խօսքերը և դրանք չի կատարում, կը նմանուի ﬕ յիմար մարդու, որ իր տունը շինեց աւազի վրայ. 27անձրևները թափուեցին, գետերը բարձրացան, հողﬔրը փչեցին և զարկեցին տանը, և նա ընկաւ. և նրա կործանումը շատ ﬔմեծ եղաւ»։
-----
Verse: 25 իջին անձրեւք՝ եւ խաղացին գետք, շնչեցին հողմք՝ եւ բախեցին զտունն, եւ ոչ կործանեցաւ, քանզի ի վերայ վիմի հաստատեալ էր։
Verse: 26 Եւ ամենայն որ լսէ զբանս իմ զայսոսիկ՝ եւ ոչ առնէ զսոսա, նմանեսցէ առն յիմարի, որ շինեաց զտուն իւր ի վերայ աւազոյ։
Verse: 27 իջին անձրեւք՝ յարեան գետք, շնչեցին հողմք՝ հարին զտունն, եւ անկաւ. եւ էր կործանումն նորա մեծ յոյժ։



Was He talking about these Sand Castles ?

Posted Image

Edited by Arpa, 11 March 2011 - 03:46 PM.


#9 Anoushik

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 11:12 PM

So true :(

#10 Arpa

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Posted 12 March 2011 - 07:50 AM

TRAGIC!!
http://www.google.co...iw=1064&bih=475

#11 Arpa

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Posted 13 March 2011 - 08:19 AM


Please pardon me. This may not belong here under this most serious and tragic subject.
Perhaps I should air this under the topic Mythology. Has the number 25 replaced the number 40 (qarsun) to mean many, many? After almost 25 years since that most tragic Natural Disaster (man made in most parts), we still don’t know the exact numbers.
Wherever one looks the number of casualties of the Earthquake is cited as 25,000 (frozen in time). Not to forget that Artsakh war casualties are also listed as 25,000. ** Just like that other mythical number of the population of Armenia frozen at 3.2 million.
Can we speak like adults instead of playing in a SAND-lot? Is there an itemized list of the victims of the Earthquake, listing names, surnames and places? Where are those 25,000 buried? Can we count their graves?
Is the number 25 the new mythical magic number to replace 40?
Seriously. Can we have real numbers instead of those mythically magic numbers of 40 and 25?
WHY DO SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT THE WORLD IS A BIG KINDERGRTEN of Show and Tell?

** Not to forget that those others insist that there are one million, count them one million refugees and displaced people. At best they are behind times, they may not have heard that the number million, with letter M has no meaning anymore as the smallest village speaks about their budget in terms of billions, with letter B. Where is Carl Sagan, the author of the term “bullions and bullions”?***


*** This is from wiki-mickey mouse media. I have no idea who is saying what.

Strength
20,000 (NKR forces) 20,000 (Armenian forces)[3] 74,000[3]
2,000-3,000 Mujahideen
Casualties and losses
Dead:4,592[4]
Wounded: 25,000[citation needed]
Missing196 [4] Dead:25,000[5][6]-30,000[4]
Wounded:60,000[3][6]
Missing:4,210[7]
Civilian deaths: 1264 Armenian civilians (including citizens of Armenia)[4]
The exact number of the Azerbaijani civilian deaths is unknown as it has never been made official and is, probably, included in the overall death-toll and/or the number of missing civilians
Civilians missing:400 according to Karabakh State Commission[7]
749 according to Azerbaijani State Commission[7


Edited by Arpa, 13 March 2011 - 08:41 AM.


#12 Arpa

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Posted 13 March 2011 - 05:31 PM

To not trivialize the major catastrophe in Japan. The number of casualties keeps climbing by the minute.
With all the science and earthquake proof structural and architectural science.. The old adage of “You can’t fool Mother Nature” comes to mind.

Every time I see eartquake stories I can't but remember 8.9 quake kills hundreds in Japan
The quake triggers a tsunami that threatens much of the Pacific. Up to 300 bodies are found in the city of Sendai in northeastern Japan, an area believed to have been hit hardest by the massive waves.

With all the stories of structural damage, impending nuclear meltdown etc., seems like the most damage was caused by the “TSUNAMI”. Curiously, that is a Japanese word.
http://hyeforum.com/...=1

#13 Arpa

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Posted 14 March 2011 - 07:51 AM

The Japanese earthquake is an open textbook. Specially the aftermath and the secondary potential collateral damages, particularly the impending nuclear meltdown. Is the world learning a lesson, in particular, is Armenia learning a lesson?
It is a sad irony that the highest high-tech facility is being jeopardized by the lowest low-tech component like the water pumps, which paradoxically run on electricity generated by the complex, the chicken and egg paradox! I just heard that the backup generators had taken over the process, which in turn were knocked out by the tsunami.
Once again. What is the world learning, and in particular what is the ANPP at Metsamor learning from this tragic story?

Posted Image



Edit. Since I wrote the above see this from AZG
Pay special attention to the last paragraph in bold.
http://www.azg.am/AM/2011031502
Note where he says-

Մինչդեռ մենք նույնիսկ ազգաբնակչությանը "էվակուացնելու" տարածք չունենք:
---
Since we don’t even have enough space for evacuation of the citizens

Why worry? The Land is being evacuated as is with or without a nuclear disaster.
http://www.amoeba.co...at-me-worry.jpg

Posted Image

«ԱԶԳ» ՕՐԱԹԵՐԹ #44, 2011-03-15
ՕՐԵՐԻ ՀԵՏ

ԱՏՈՄԱԿԱՅԱՆ

Դժբախտությունը, ասում է ժողովուրդը, առանձին չի գալիս: Ճապոնիայի պարագայում դրանք եկան երեքը միասինՙ երկրաշարժ, ցունամի, ատոմակայանի վթար: Մեկը մյուսից սարսափելի, մեկը մյուսից աղետաբերՙ մարդկային, հոգեբանական, նյութական ծանրագույն հետեւանքներով:

Անշուշտ, դեռ վաղ է խոսել մարդկային կորուստների մասին. դեռ տասնյակ հազարավոր դիակներ կան ավերակների տակ, հարյուր հազարավոր անհետ կորածներ, որոնց վերջնական հաշվեկշիռը կպարզվի հետագա շաբաթներին: Վաղ է նաեւ նյութական վնասների հաշվեկշիռը ներկայացնելու, թեեւ արդեն խոսվում է 170 մլրդ դոլարի կորուստների մասին, առանց հաշվարկելու գալիք ամիսներին եւ, գուցե, տարիներին արձանագրվելիք կորուստներըՙ փակված գործարանների, խափանված ձեռնարկությունների եւ ենթակառուցվածքների պատճառով: Նախնականորեն պարզ է կարծես մեկ բանՙ ցունամին առավել զոհեր է խլել ու կործանումներ առաջացրելՙ քան երկրաշարժը: Դա նշանակում է, որ երկիրը շատ ավելի լավ էր նախապատրաստված դիմագրավելու երկրաշարժը, քան ցունամիի ամեհի ալիքները:

Թվում էր, որ երկիրը է՛լ ավելի լավ էր նախապատրաստված ատոմային վտանգինՙ Հիրոսիմա ու Նագասակի տեսած երկիրը, ի գործի դնելով իր ամենաբծախնդիր ճարտարագիտական հանճարը, ընդմիշտ փակած պիտի լիներ ատոմային ճառագայթման վտանգի ճանապարհը երկրում: Այդպես էլ կար, ավտոմատ սարքերը երկրի մյուս ատոմակայաններում 8.9 մագնիտուտ հզորությամբ ցնցման հետ միաժամանակ անջատվեցին, բացի մեկիցՙ Ֆուկուշիմայի ատոմակայանից, որի 4 ռեակտորներից 3-ում հովացման համակարգը դավաճանեց, տեղի ունեցավ պայթյուն, ճառագայթի արտահոսք, թեեւ, բարեբախտաբար, ատոմակայանի պաշտպանիչ պատյանը կամ սարկոֆակը, ըստ պատասխանատուների, դեռեւս մնում է անխոցելի: Սակայն ոչ ոք չի կարող ասել, թե ինչ է պատահելու առաջիկա օրերին, անգամ ժամերին:
Ու մինչ ճապոնացի մասնագետներն այժմ ոգի իր բռին պայքարում են զսպելու հետագա բռնկման սպառնալիքը Ֆուկուշիմայի ատոմակայանում, մենք չենք կարող չմտածել ու չմտահոգվել մերՙ Մեծամորի ատոմակայանի վիճակով ու ճակատագրով: Անշուշտ, հիշում ենք, որ վերագործարկումից հետո մեր ատոմայականը միջազգային նյութական ու մասնագիտական օգնությամբ լրացուցիչ ապահովական սիստեմներով օժտվեց: Բայց հիշում ենք նաեւ, թե ատոմակայանների ո՛ր սերնդին է պատկանում այնՙ Չեռնոբիլի՛: Գիտենք նաեւ, որ էներգակիրների սեփական ռեսուրսների սակավության պատճառով ատոմակայանի փակումը եւ հետագայում նոր ատոմակայանի շինարարության ծրագրերից հրաժարումը բացասական ինչպիսի ազդեցություն կունենա մեր աղքատ երկրի վրա: Սակայն չենք կարող սեյսմիկ վտանգավոր գոտում գտնվող փոքրիկ մեր երկրում հանդուրժել որեւէ համակեցություն հին, նոր կամ նորագույն որեւէ ատոմակայանի հետ: Ճապոնական դժբախտությունը դա է թելադրում, ոչ միայն մեզ, այլեւ, անգամ, Իտալիային, Ֆրանսիային ու մանավանդ Գերմանիային: Մինչդեռ մենք նույնիսկ ազգաբնակչությանը էվակուացնելու տարածք չունենք:

Գեթ այս անգամ փորձենք սովորել այլոց դժբախտությունից:


Հ. ԱՎԵՏԻՔՅԱՆ


Edited by Arpa, 14 March 2011 - 05:22 PM.


#14 Arpa

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Posted 23 October 2011 - 10:26 AM

We have not yet heard from Armenia if they had felt the tremor.
Every time I hear about earthquakes I cringe, feel like hiding under a rock. I feel like hanging my head in shame every time I hear about earthquakes, specially those in the neighborhood I have horrible flashbacks. Some recent earthquakes in the neighborhood like Iran India et al, ten times powerful than that in Spitak where only a dozen are killed…
Every December 7 we gather, we weep and cry, we sing Der Voghormia. The DER/God , the Creator had nothing to do with the disaster. It was those corrupt “creatures”. I would much rather chant DEATH TO THE CORRUPT APARATCHIK AND CHINOVNIK!!!
Has anything changed? Are those “houses of cards” in Yerevan and Gumri being built per code?
http://thumbs.dreams...20483A1Y50Q.jpg

Posted Image
Once again please. Can we stop passing the buck and blaming the corrupt Soviet culture? I am sure there have been even bigger tremors in Russia and other Soviet lands where only a handful have perished. The houses of card, built with sand were planned and built by our own (soviet) corrupt and robber Armenian brothers Were any of those corrupt thieves, architects , contractors, masons and laborers brought to justice? Some of them may still be alive.

The Spitak Earthquake (also called Leninakan Earthquake and Gyumri Earthquake) was a tremor with a magnitude of 6.9,[3] that took place on December 7, 1988 at 11:41 local time (07:41 UTC) in the Spitak region of Armenia, then part of the Soviet Union. The earthquake killed at least 25,000 people;[2] geologists and earthquake engineering experts laid the blame on the poorly built support structures of apartments and other buildings built during the "stagnation" era of Leonid Brezhnev


The Earthquake in Armenia had a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale. The one in Van is supposed to be 7.2-7.3. How much more powerful is it?

The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake.
In all cases, the magnitude is a base-10 logarithmic scale obtained by calculating the logarithm of the amplitude of waves measured by a seismograph. An earthquake that measures 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking amplitude 10 times larger and corresponds to an energy release of √1000 ≈ 31.6 times greater than one that measures 4.0. [1]


http://edition.cnn.c...uake/?hpt=wo_c2

“We are estimating a death toll between 500 and 1,000,” Mustafa Erdik, head of the Kandilli observatory, told a televised news conference. His estimate was based on the structure of the housing in the area and the strength of the quake

--

Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) -- Turkey was struck by its most powerful earthquake in at least a decade Sunday, as a major tremor and at least seven aftershocks rattled the poor east of the country.
Television pictures from Van Province showed rescuers and members of the public climbing over massive piles of cinderblocks that had been a building before the earthquake hit.
Ambulances and bulldozers were on the scene.
A seven-story building collapsed on Kazim Karabekir Street in the city of Van, and more buildings were reduced to rubble the village of Tabanli in Van Province, the Anatolian news agency said. It was unknown how many people were trapped.
Video from CNN Turk showed the inside of shaking buildings, and people gathering outside on the streets.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will fly to the area Sunday afternoon, his office said.
The area is "no stranger to having these seismic events," but Sunday's quake is considered major, CNN Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf reported.
The U.S. Geological Survey initially reported the quake had a magnitude of 7.3, then revised it down to 7.2.
The last quake of that magnitude in Turkey -- a 7.2 tremor in Duzce in 1999 -- killed 894 people, the USGS reported. A 7.6 earthquake in Izmit, Turkey, killed more than 17,000 people the same year, according to the USGS.
Sunday's major quake hit at 1:41 p.m. local time and was followed by at least seven aftershocks, American and Turkish monitoring agencies reported.
It took place about 12 miles from Van, the USGS said.
An official Turkish monitoring office reported a magnitude of 6.7 for the main quake, plus aftershocks ranging in magnitude from 2.6 to 5.8, all within an hour of the first quake.
The USGS reported a depth of 4.5 miles, or 7.2 kilometers; the center in Turkey said the quake was about 3 miles, or 5 kilometers, deep.
One concern is displacement of water along Lake Van, which could send water gushing into nearby areas, particularly along the west side, CNN's Reynolds Wolf reported.


Edited by Arpa, 23 October 2011 - 01:59 PM.


#15 gamavor

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Posted 06 December 2011 - 02:31 PM

Thanks to Aznavour, Italy and France expressed their solidarity with Armenia in a unique way. The Italian version of the song predates the French.

Pour toi Armenie




Per te Armenia



#16 Nvard

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Posted 06 December 2011 - 07:29 PM

Astvac et anmegh mardkanc hoginere lusavori!
:(

#17 Arpa

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Posted 07 December 2011 - 09:01 AM

Most people have moved out of domiks. Some were given apartments, but most have to rent their homes <img src="http://hyeforum.com/..._DIR#>/sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />

====
:msn-cry: :angry:
The above was wtitten 5 years ago. Let's see the pictures of today.
====
http://www.armeniano..._life_in_gyumri

By NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow , 12/7/2011
Twenty-three years after the December 7, 1988 earthquake thousands of people in northern areas of the country still must live in “domiks” (Russian for “small houses”). More than 100 families live in one such district not far from Gyumri’s coach station. Today the domiks district demography has considerably changed as besides earthquake survivors the district has also become a refuge for many socially vulnerable families, some of whom even rent these makeshift lodgings.

I had never sen that video of Spitak before.


http://news.am/eng/news/84639.html

Edited by Arpa, 07 December 2011 - 10:12 AM.


#18 Arpa

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Posted 07 December 2012 - 08:11 AM

With all due respects and sympathy to all those who lost life and limb and to their loved ones.

http://news.am/eng/news/131512.html

December 7, 2012 | 17:49
Armenia remembers victims of 1988 quake

December 07, 2012 | 08:12
Armenia was shocked by the devastating earthquake that struck Spitak city on December 7, 1988, at 11:41am local time, that is, 24 years ago on this day.
In a matter of thirty seconds, the strong underground shakings destroyed Armenia’s northern portion, with a population of one million. At Spitak, which was the epicenter of the tremor, the quake measured magnitude 10 on a 12-magnitude scale. Shocks were recorded in capital city Yerevan and in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, too.
According to official figures, the disaster claimed 25,000 lives, 19,000 people became disabled, and 530,000 residents were left homeless.
As a result of the earthquake, Spitak was destroyed virtually completely. Also, 21 cities and townships and 324 villages were ruined. Eighty percent of the country’s second largest city, Gyumri—Leninakan, at the time—, was annihilated. There was destruction in Armenia’s third largest city, Vanadzor—Kirovakan, at the time—, as well.
Close to forty percent of the country’s industrial potential was rendered inoperative as a result of this natural disaster.
But the ex-USSR and the world entire lent a helping hand to Armenia in trying to heal the wounds of this great calamity.
News from Armenia - NEWS.am

=====
And the infamy goes on.
-----
http://www.armeniano...r7_1988_housing


Society | 07.12.12 | 12:33

Earthquake Anniversary: 24 years on, some in Gyumri still live in makeshift conditions

Archive Photo: Photolure
A street clock in Gyumri stopped in the aftermath of the earthquake to show the time when a devastating tremor struck the city on December 7, 1988
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Nearly a quarter of a century after the 1988 devastating earthquake there are still families in Armenia that live with the consequences of that natural disaster.
A powerful tremor struck the Spitak region of Armenia close to midday December 7, 1988, at a time when most children were in schools and adults at work. As a result, the earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale killed at least 25,000 people, causing vast destruction in the towns and villages in large parts of northern Armenia.
Twenty-four years on, however, some people in the affected areas still continue to live in rusty metal makeshifts. And in certain areas, like Gyumri, there are still earthquake-damaged buildings that have not been torn down till today. Successive Armenian governments have promised to eliminate the consequences of the earthquake and the very notion of the disaster area, but the challenge is on despite efforts to provide immediate earthquake survivors with new housing. Still, even after the completion of the 2008-2013 housing construction program of the current government Gyumri alone will have about 4,000 families living in huts. These families who, too, consider themselves to be the ones bearing the consequences of the earthquake, have not been included in the lists of beneficiaries – they are usually the second generation of earthquake survivors with their own new families who had nowhere else to live but these slums. Other such people are not immediate victims of the earthquake or their descendants or had received new homes, but had to sell them because of their debts and go back to living in makeshift housing. In October as many as 1,756 families in Gyumri received new apartments. Since 2010, 2,812 of officially registered 4,270 homeless families in Gyumri have received housing of their own as part of the government program. Authorities have promised to provide an additional 1,351 apartments in Gyumri in 2013, but for various reasons they have been reluctant to address the problems of the people who are left out of the housing construction program. Members of the “The City is Ours” civic group that was set up in Gyumri before last May’s parliamentary elections demand that these families, too, be enabled to leave their old metal housing and provided with proper living conditions. They have stressed the general unemployment and poverty in the city and the province that they say have reached “alarming proportions”. According to official data, an estimated 47 percent of people in Gyumri live in poverty, which is higher than the average poverty rate for Armenia (about 35 percent). The group has urged the National Assembly, the president and the government of Armenia to recognize all groups of citizens who currently live in makeshift housing in the earthquake area as beneficiaries of the state housing programs and provide them with homes according to the actual number of family members within the next two years. Under the currently applied regulations, families get apartments of the size that they used to have before the earthquake. The program does not take into account the natural growth of families, on the other hand, if a family shrinks by a person, it gets a smaller apartment (by one room). The civil initiative also advocates the rights of other people without homes, calling for the construction of social housing for them or subsidizing loans or the purchase of building materials for them to solve their housing problems by themselves. Karine Mkrtchyan, a member of the group, considers this demand to be only fair as she says that many people in her native town have to live in huts in inhuman conditions. “If the government could pay them compensations, their children would not have to grow up in rotten metal cottages, in damp conditions, surrounded by rats. I consider that the rights of these people are not protected and it is immoral to deprive them of their rights,” Mkrtchyan says. The activist does not consider the government pledge to rehabilitate the earthquake area to have been fulfilled yet, as she points to the general problems that exist in Gyumri. “You can still find collapsed buildings in visible parts of the city. These earthquake rubbles have not been dismantled until today. We feel like we have been tinned and preserved since those times. We psychologically feel like we are detached from the rest of Armenia, because even the traces of the earthquake have not been completely removed here,” says Mkrtchyan. The woman cites the example of Spitak, the town situated nearer the epicenter of the 1988 earthquake that also suffered great human loss and vast destruction. She says that traces of devastation are barely seen in Spitak today, which makes it easier for the townsfolk to cope with current difficulties of life. Meanwhile, she says, people in Gyumri have been able to only partly get rid of the disaster zone mentality. Mkrtchyan, who runs a small production of clothes and accessories in Gyumri, also attaches importance to creating jobs and training qualified workforce for the future development of the town. Speaking from her own experience, the 33-year-old businesswoman says that skilled workers are still hard to find in Gyumri despite the presence of many vocational schools. “We have a lot of institutions that train designers and tailors in Gyumri, but I still can’t find a proper worker for my enterprise, a worker who would meet the modern-day requirements of the market,” says Mkrtchyan. -- See a photo story by ArmeniaNow photo correspondent Nazik Armenakyan from last year about domik life in Gyumri “Temporary” for 23 Years: “Domik” life in Gyumri
Source URL: http://www.armeniano...r7_1988_housing



#19 Boghos

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Posted 09 December 2012 - 12:14 PM

Hayer miatsek, miatsek hayer :dizzy:

#20 Arpa

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Posted 06 December 2013 - 12:34 PM

I am ashamed to bring this story . :furious:   :angry:
A quarter century, 25 years later, thousands are still living in rundown shacks in abject poverty..
Where did all those millions of dollars, from international and Armenian funds go?
Even Bangladeshis are ahead of us in disaster relief and reconstruction.
Once again. Where, in whose pockets are those millions?
Buying palaces in Paris?
And yet we are still holding telethons for this or that project.
 
 
 
 

00:03, December 5, 2013

A rug, a candlestick, and a photo album…
These are the only items that Seda Ter-Gevorgyan was able to salvage from the ruins left in the wake of the earthquake that struck on December 7, 1988.
They are the only things that remind her of the home and belongings she lost.
The rug now adorns the wall of her sitting room. She tenderly preserves the photo album.
“That morning when I awoke, the air was red. The clouds were red. The mice in the office were scurrying about,” recounts Seda. She had gone to work. When the first tremor hit, her colleagues jumped up. She cried out, “What’s happened to my Rubik?” Rubik is her son and only source of hope.
“I will never forget the way the trees moved, up and down. The office didn’t collapse. But when the second tremor hit, we were already out in the yard, holding on to each other so that we wouldn’t fall.”
She flew home in the first car that came by. Mother and son looked for each other amongst the ruins near their house. “We cried and wailed when we eventually found one another. There was nothing left of our home,” Seda says, recalling her husband’s oil paintings, scared and strewn about in the rubble.
Ever since that day 25 years ago, a tomik has been her home.
The former financial manager, who worked in a sanitary station, is now retired. She refused to be photographed. “I don't like such things,” Seda told us.
When we asked her age, Seda smirked. “Once a person passes seventy, who keeps count?”
Seda lives alone. Her daughter has married, and her husband died before the earthquake. Her son has left to work in Russia.
Seda wasn’t registered in the apartment that was destroyed, so the government refused to allocate her a new two room apartment. Officials told her that since her son had come of age, they could only allocate her a one room apartment. She’s still waiting. Her son is planning to return and look into the matter so that he too can return and live normally.
Seda receives a pension and her son helps out as well. To remain active and have a bit of pocket money, she washes bottles and sells them.
She’s seen good times and bad, but has never entertained the idea of leaving Gyumri, either to go to Yerevan or abroad.
When times get rough, Seda sometimes regrets no listening to her relatives who invited her to leave. Now, she even doesn’t think of going to live with her son.

 

 

 

 






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