“I wish there was never the necessity to apply these skills”

At 11:41 on December 7th, 1988 the destructive earthquake of Spitak shook Armenia. In a matter of thirty seconds the powerful subterranean tremors destroyed the northern part of Armenia, with a population of 1 million people. The magnitude of the tremors in Spitak, the epicentre of the earthquake, was 10 bal (on a scale of 12 bal). 21 towns and townships, 324 villages, and a residential area of 1.8 million sqm were destroyed. According to official statistics, 25,000 lives were lost, 19,000 became disabled and 530,000 people were left homeless…

Experts insist that the number of losses could have been much smaller. Firstly, if the seismic risks had been assessed for a maximum of 9 bal and not the 7 that they had been assessed for; if there had not been defects in the construction of buildings; if we had had experience in emergency rescue work… The list of “ifs” is endless and it includes panic and the absolute ignorance of the people, which prevented many from making the correct decisions at the moment of danger.

Today we are trying to reap lessons from the tragedy that took place 25 years ago. We have a Ministry of Emergency Situations and a national platform and fund for disaster risk reduction. Different programmes aimed at the prevention of disasters and the elimination of their results are being implemented by the joint efforts of local and international organisations , including raising the preparedness and awareness of the population.
For example, the Armenian state structures, together with UNICEF, the Armenian Red Cross Society, the National platform for disaster risk reduction (ARNAP) and the OXFAM and Save the Children international organisations, are involved in The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Directorate General  “Disaster Preparedness in the Southern Caucasus” (DIPECHO) programme.  Moreover, this programme also includes a gender component because in the preparation against disaster and organization of rescue work it is necessary to take into account the specific needs of men and women. Studies also show that the role of women in creating safe communities is very important.

For three years now Oxfam in Armenia, together with the “Support to Communities” NGO, has been working in 10 communities in Vayots Dzor towards raising public awareness, the preparedness of the community structures, and the ability to respond quickly to emergency situations. By the way, it is not only during earthquakes that such skills and knowledge are needed.

On December 6th the successive public event “The Implementation of Rescue Work during a Powerful Earthquake” was organised in the region with these objectives in mind.

Volunteers from various Oxfam and “Support to Communities” NGO projects participated in the training exercises which took place in the village of Arpi in Vayots Dzor marz.

“The community of Arpi is one of the beneficiary regions of the “Disaster Risk Reduction” programme, where we frequently come across disaster risk situations, particularly landslides,” said Zaruhi Tonoyan, Disaster and Risk Reduction programme officer. “We pay special attention particularly to the reduction of vulnerability of school-age children during disasters. They are our target group.”

And one of the volunteers noticed, “In my opinion, it would have been very good if civil servants: governors (marzpets), mayors, and community heads, also participated in the events because when a disaster arrives, all of them will have to leave their seats and run for help. It was not a matter of time in this case, because it is the last day of the working week and working a few hours for this purpose would not only cause no inconvenience to them but would give a positive result. Everything else was very good. It is three years now that I have been participating in these events and I always leave amazed at the unity here.”

Let us point out that the head of the village of Areni had come to participate in the event. He agreed with the comment of the volunteer that state bodies should also actively participate in the training exercise because no one really knows what might happen tomorrow.

“I just want to express my gratitude to all the rescuers and volunteers for participating in these exercises. But I want there never to be the necessity to apply these skills,” said Jirayr Yeghyan, the community leader.

Karine Movsisyan, the “Support to Communities” NGO representative expressed her concern that many of the men who already possess these skills are leaving as a result of work migration and with that, the risk is increased. She also added that new people must be engaged, more serious trainings must be carried out and the skills of the newly engaged participants must be strengthened.

 
“The most important thing for me is that the volunteers involved actively participated in the training exercises,” said Kristine Hovhannisyan, the public relations and advocacy officer of the Oxfam Armenia office. “In my opinion the event served its purpose because, through our concerted efforts, we managed to inform people and have that cohesion which we were aiming for.”

At the end of the event the participants (half in jest, half seriously) considered it very positive that this time the ambulance arrived on time and that there were no “victims”…