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Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #655
August 19 2012
Armenian Villages on Shaky Ground
For landslip-threatened communities, resettlement seems the only viable option.
By Christine Aghalaryan - Caucasus
Voghjaberd is a village without much of a future. Sitting on an area
subject to frequent land slippage, and at risk from rocks tumbling
down from higher ground, the houses here seem destined to collapse
sooner or later.
It is just a matter of time.
Home to just over 1,000 people, this village in Armenia's central
Kotayk region is among 230 settlements across the country that are
located in zones prone to landslides. Voghjaberd is not particularly
remote - it lies just 20 kilometres from the capital Yerevan.
All the houses in Voghjaberd are now so damaged by the ground moving
underneath them that great cracks have appeared in the walls as they
gradually cave in.
The slippage of land occurs at a snail's pace, but it can be
accelerated by earthquakes in this seismically active region, by the
heavy rains of autumn and spring, and also by human intervention.
In Voghjaberd, the subsoil became unstable in the 1970s, coinciding
with a well-intentioned project to bring water from the river Azat to
supply the village.
By the late 1980s, the slippage was more pronounced, and in the early
1990s the village was listed as a landslip zone.
Hayk Baghdasaryan, a senior researcher at Armenia's Institute of
Geological Sciences who took part in a major survey conducted in
2005-06, told IWPR that Voghjaberd sat on a particularly large risk
area consisting of 500 hectares of clay soil that was constantly on
the move.
`Large rocks and blocks of stone have descended into the built-up area
here, most probably as a result of an earthquake,' he said. `The facts
show that these houses are in danger. If there's another earthquake,
the rocks could fall onto the houses.'
Voghjaberd's community centre and kindergarten have already fallen
down, and the three village schools are in such poor shape that they
were abandoned eight years ago. The 82 schoolchildren in the village
attend lessons in trailers instead.
After Harut Margaryan's house collapsed, his family found themselves
on the street. The village authorities offered a temporary solution by
housing them in the first-aid clinic, which was in turn relocated to a
trailer.
The accountant in Voghjaberd's local government office, Haykanush
Babayan, told IWPR that less than a third of the farmland around the
village was still in use. The wheat fields lie fallow, and villagers
live off the produce they can grow on their individual land plots.
They can mow hay in the fields, but only by hand as it is forbidden to
use farm machinery.
The main arterial road from Yerevan to Garni is also affected, and
needs constant repairs to keep it in use.
`The highway was completely repaired a week ago, but it's starting to
disintegrate along the same section,' Babayan said. `Our village has
no future.'
The authorities appear to agree. There are no long-term development
projects for the village. Residents have been exempted from paying
land tax, though this starves local government of funds - its income
is just over 22,000 US dollars a year, just about enough to pay staff
wages and help a few of the poorest families.
`It is difficult to cope with landslides,' local resident Rafik
Rafaelyan said. `The experts say there's no point fighting landslip
areas as large as Voghjaberd, firstly because that would eat up large
amount of money, materials and human resources with no tangible
results. And secondly, the possibility that the landslip would start
up again in the could never be ruled out. It is better to resettle the
residents little by little, and that's what is being done,'
Village government chief Norayr Melkonyan said 140 families in
Voghjaberd had already received state compensation packages to help
them make the move.
Initially, those who owned their own homes were given a one-off
payment of ten million drams - around 25,000 dollars - depending on
the size of their properties. Other residents were given documentation
allowing them to claim new housing, and four families have so far
moved into new apartments elsewhere.
The resettlement and compensation process has been hampered by funding
shortages. Village residents and officials have repeatedly asked
central government for more assistance, only to be told that whenever
funds become available, households will assessed for the risk they are
at, and will then receive compensation packages according to a
prioritised list.
Village head Melkonyan said about 100 houses in Voghjaberd were
inhabited by young couples, but they would not be eligible for
compensation as they were officially listed as living with their
parents.
The selective compensation rules led to situations like that of the
Avagyan family, where one married son moved away to live on a land
plot bought with compensation worth 10,000 dollars. The other stayed
behind in the old house, where he now lived with his family and
72-year-old mother.
Edward and Nelly Zadoyan are awaiting the birth of their 14th child in
a house they fear is in great danger because it sits on the edge of
the village, close to the hillside. Nelly Zadoyan recalled a massive
rock which broke off from the hillside and missed their home by a
miracle.
Nevertheless, Edward Zadoyan said the family was unable to move as
they were not scheduled for resettlement in the near future, and there
were other homes deemed to be at even greater risk.
Artur Muradyan, head of the Emergency Ministry's department for
natural disasters, explained that compensation package was paid out in
two stages - 40 per cent when a family moved out of a condemned
building, and the remaining 60 per cent when it was actually
demolished. The idea was to stop people taking the money and going
back to live in their dangerous homes.
However, Muradyan said, even this precaution was not always effective
- many families had taken the first part of the money and continued to
live in Voghjaberd.
Muradyan sits on a special commission set up by Armenia's urban
development ministry to look into how to deal with similar communities
across the country. Although 133 settlements have been listed as
requiring preventive earthworks, no funds for this were allocated in
the government budgets for this year and last. Instead, the policy
continues to be to move people out of high-risk buildings.
Shifts in geological structure make it especially hard to plan ahead.
`The situation changes month by month. Once the research has been
carried out, money will need to be found to act on the commission's
findings,' Muradyan said. `In a few months' time, the situation won't
be the same as it is now.'
As for Voghjaberd, villager Rafaelyan said its past was endangered as
well as its future.
The local cemetery is subsiding, and he has been forced to remove his
parents' remains to another location. Some people have moved
relatives' remains to a newer cemetery, but that too lies within the
landslip zone.
Christine Aghalaryan is a correspondent for the Hetq newspaper in Armenia.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenian-villages-shaky-ground
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #655
August 19 2012
Armenian Villages on Shaky Ground
For landslip-threatened communities, resettlement seems the only viable option.
By Christine Aghalaryan - Caucasus
Voghjaberd is a village without much of a future. Sitting on an area
subject to frequent land slippage, and at risk from rocks tumbling
down from higher ground, the houses here seem destined to collapse
sooner or later.
It is just a matter of time.
Home to just over 1,000 people, this village in Armenia's central
Kotayk region is among 230 settlements across the country that are
located in zones prone to landslides. Voghjaberd is not particularly
remote - it lies just 20 kilometres from the capital Yerevan.
All the houses in Voghjaberd are now so damaged by the ground moving
underneath them that great cracks have appeared in the walls as they
gradually cave in.
The slippage of land occurs at a snail's pace, but it can be
accelerated by earthquakes in this seismically active region, by the
heavy rains of autumn and spring, and also by human intervention.
In Voghjaberd, the subsoil became unstable in the 1970s, coinciding
with a well-intentioned project to bring water from the river Azat to
supply the village.
By the late 1980s, the slippage was more pronounced, and in the early
1990s the village was listed as a landslip zone.
Hayk Baghdasaryan, a senior researcher at Armenia's Institute of
Geological Sciences who took part in a major survey conducted in
2005-06, told IWPR that Voghjaberd sat on a particularly large risk
area consisting of 500 hectares of clay soil that was constantly on
the move.
`Large rocks and blocks of stone have descended into the built-up area
here, most probably as a result of an earthquake,' he said. `The facts
show that these houses are in danger. If there's another earthquake,
the rocks could fall onto the houses.'
Voghjaberd's community centre and kindergarten have already fallen
down, and the three village schools are in such poor shape that they
were abandoned eight years ago. The 82 schoolchildren in the village
attend lessons in trailers instead.
After Harut Margaryan's house collapsed, his family found themselves
on the street. The village authorities offered a temporary solution by
housing them in the first-aid clinic, which was in turn relocated to a
trailer.
The accountant in Voghjaberd's local government office, Haykanush
Babayan, told IWPR that less than a third of the farmland around the
village was still in use. The wheat fields lie fallow, and villagers
live off the produce they can grow on their individual land plots.
They can mow hay in the fields, but only by hand as it is forbidden to
use farm machinery.
The main arterial road from Yerevan to Garni is also affected, and
needs constant repairs to keep it in use.
`The highway was completely repaired a week ago, but it's starting to
disintegrate along the same section,' Babayan said. `Our village has
no future.'
The authorities appear to agree. There are no long-term development
projects for the village. Residents have been exempted from paying
land tax, though this starves local government of funds - its income
is just over 22,000 US dollars a year, just about enough to pay staff
wages and help a few of the poorest families.
`It is difficult to cope with landslides,' local resident Rafik
Rafaelyan said. `The experts say there's no point fighting landslip
areas as large as Voghjaberd, firstly because that would eat up large
amount of money, materials and human resources with no tangible
results. And secondly, the possibility that the landslip would start
up again in the could never be ruled out. It is better to resettle the
residents little by little, and that's what is being done,'
Village government chief Norayr Melkonyan said 140 families in
Voghjaberd had already received state compensation packages to help
them make the move.
Initially, those who owned their own homes were given a one-off
payment of ten million drams - around 25,000 dollars - depending on
the size of their properties. Other residents were given documentation
allowing them to claim new housing, and four families have so far
moved into new apartments elsewhere.
The resettlement and compensation process has been hampered by funding
shortages. Village residents and officials have repeatedly asked
central government for more assistance, only to be told that whenever
funds become available, households will assessed for the risk they are
at, and will then receive compensation packages according to a
prioritised list.
Village head Melkonyan said about 100 houses in Voghjaberd were
inhabited by young couples, but they would not be eligible for
compensation as they were officially listed as living with their
parents.
The selective compensation rules led to situations like that of the
Avagyan family, where one married son moved away to live on a land
plot bought with compensation worth 10,000 dollars. The other stayed
behind in the old house, where he now lived with his family and
72-year-old mother.
Edward and Nelly Zadoyan are awaiting the birth of their 14th child in
a house they fear is in great danger because it sits on the edge of
the village, close to the hillside. Nelly Zadoyan recalled a massive
rock which broke off from the hillside and missed their home by a
miracle.
Nevertheless, Edward Zadoyan said the family was unable to move as
they were not scheduled for resettlement in the near future, and there
were other homes deemed to be at even greater risk.
Artur Muradyan, head of the Emergency Ministry's department for
natural disasters, explained that compensation package was paid out in
two stages - 40 per cent when a family moved out of a condemned
building, and the remaining 60 per cent when it was actually
demolished. The idea was to stop people taking the money and going
back to live in their dangerous homes.
However, Muradyan said, even this precaution was not always effective
- many families had taken the first part of the money and continued to
live in Voghjaberd.
Muradyan sits on a special commission set up by Armenia's urban
development ministry to look into how to deal with similar communities
across the country. Although 133 settlements have been listed as
requiring preventive earthworks, no funds for this were allocated in
the government budgets for this year and last. Instead, the policy
continues to be to move people out of high-risk buildings.
Shifts in geological structure make it especially hard to plan ahead.
`The situation changes month by month. Once the research has been
carried out, money will need to be found to act on the commission's
findings,' Muradyan said. `In a few months' time, the situation won't
be the same as it is now.'
As for Voghjaberd, villager Rafaelyan said its past was endangered as
well as its future.
The local cemetery is subsiding, and he has been forced to remove his
parents' remains to another location. Some people have moved
relatives' remains to a newer cemetery, but that too lies within the
landslip zone.
Christine Aghalaryan is a correspondent for the Hetq newspaper in Armenia.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenian-villages-shaky-ground
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress