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SPITAK REMEMBERED
http://asbarez.com/117113/spitak-remembered/
Friday, December 6th, 2013
His Holiness Karekin of the Greater House of Cilicia, surrounded by
Spitak residents after he climbed a damaged Cathedral.
BY HARRY L. KOUNDAKJIAN
It was around 7 a.m. on December 7th, 1988. Our telephone woke me up.
Our assignment editor at the Associated Press in New York was
calling me.
He ordered me, "Get your travel bag, all your camera gear and rush
to the office to get some cash. You are booked to fly out at 10 am."
"Where am I going?" I inquired.
The Catholicoi of Armenia, His Holiness Vazken First and His Holiness
Karekin of the Great House of Cilicia walking toward the Eternal
Flame monument carrying their flowers.
"Armenia," he replied.
"I have no papers ready to leave the States as I just swore my
allegiance to the United States," I told him. "Forget it," he grumbled
and hung up.
At the AP headquarters office on 50 Rockefeller Plaza I read all
about it. The earthquake had hit the northern region of Armenia,
still part of the Soviet Union. Reports said the earthquake measured
6.8 on the surface and had a maximum intensity of X (Devastating)
on the Medvedev scale.
The report claimed the region that the earthquake occurred was
vulnerable to occasional large and destructive earthquakes. It added
that the area was part of a larger active seismic belt that stretches
from the Alps to the Himalayas.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev formally asked the United States
for humanitarian help. Over 130 countries sent humanitarian aid in
the form of rescue equipment and medical equipment. I know I missed
all the best pictures I could have taken but just before Easter,
Armenian organizations had several meetings in New York to arrange
for financial assistance as well as medical help.
I covered these meetings with political and religious leaders and
was assigned by the AP to visit the ruined country with His Holiness
Catholicos Karekin of the Great House of Cilicia, assisted by the
late Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian of the Eastern Prelacy and other clergy.
Two different views of the thousands of Armenians marching towards
Dzidzernagapert on April 24, 1989 to the monument build in memory of
the 1.5 million Armenian Martyrs murdered by the Ottoman Turks during
World War ONE.
It was a very tiring flight but we made it safely. In Yerevan, meetings
followed meetings and everyone visited as many places as they could,
helping as many people as they could.
When His Holiness Karekin climbed over the crushed and broken
cathedral in Spitak, I implored him to not risk injury in such a way
and cautioned him that if he fell, he would be seriously hurt. His
reply was simple: "I used to climb over mountains in Kessab where I
was born and we are like gazelles, we do not fall."
Non-governmental organizations had a large part in the international
effort. One such effort was by a group of recording artists who united
to produce several music-related contributions for the victims of the
quake. A single produced by a duo of French composers with Armenian
ties as well as a studio album were released by the British music
industry featuring songs that were donated by mainstream rock bands
and with the proceeds going to the rebuilding efforts in Armenia.
A group of French recording artists and actors came together with the
French writer and composer Charles Aznavour to record the 1989 song
"Pour toi Armenie"-For you Armenia. With Armenian composer Garvarentz,
they formed a foundation called Aznavour for Armenia and composed
the song as a call for help for the Armenians. Rock Aid Armenia, also
known in earlier stages as Live Aid Armenia, was another humanitarian
effort by the British music industry to raise money for the victims
of the earthquake.
By July 1989, about $500 million in donations had been delivered to
the victims in Armenia from 113 countries.
http://asbarez.com/117113/spitak-remembered/
Friday, December 6th, 2013
His Holiness Karekin of the Greater House of Cilicia, surrounded by
Spitak residents after he climbed a damaged Cathedral.
BY HARRY L. KOUNDAKJIAN
It was around 7 a.m. on December 7th, 1988. Our telephone woke me up.
Our assignment editor at the Associated Press in New York was
calling me.
He ordered me, "Get your travel bag, all your camera gear and rush
to the office to get some cash. You are booked to fly out at 10 am."
"Where am I going?" I inquired.
The Catholicoi of Armenia, His Holiness Vazken First and His Holiness
Karekin of the Great House of Cilicia walking toward the Eternal
Flame monument carrying their flowers.
"Armenia," he replied.
"I have no papers ready to leave the States as I just swore my
allegiance to the United States," I told him. "Forget it," he grumbled
and hung up.
At the AP headquarters office on 50 Rockefeller Plaza I read all
about it. The earthquake had hit the northern region of Armenia,
still part of the Soviet Union. Reports said the earthquake measured
6.8 on the surface and had a maximum intensity of X (Devastating)
on the Medvedev scale.
The report claimed the region that the earthquake occurred was
vulnerable to occasional large and destructive earthquakes. It added
that the area was part of a larger active seismic belt that stretches
from the Alps to the Himalayas.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev formally asked the United States
for humanitarian help. Over 130 countries sent humanitarian aid in
the form of rescue equipment and medical equipment. I know I missed
all the best pictures I could have taken but just before Easter,
Armenian organizations had several meetings in New York to arrange
for financial assistance as well as medical help.
I covered these meetings with political and religious leaders and
was assigned by the AP to visit the ruined country with His Holiness
Catholicos Karekin of the Great House of Cilicia, assisted by the
late Archbishop Mesrob Ashjian of the Eastern Prelacy and other clergy.
Two different views of the thousands of Armenians marching towards
Dzidzernagapert on April 24, 1989 to the monument build in memory of
the 1.5 million Armenian Martyrs murdered by the Ottoman Turks during
World War ONE.
It was a very tiring flight but we made it safely. In Yerevan, meetings
followed meetings and everyone visited as many places as they could,
helping as many people as they could.
When His Holiness Karekin climbed over the crushed and broken
cathedral in Spitak, I implored him to not risk injury in such a way
and cautioned him that if he fell, he would be seriously hurt. His
reply was simple: "I used to climb over mountains in Kessab where I
was born and we are like gazelles, we do not fall."
Non-governmental organizations had a large part in the international
effort. One such effort was by a group of recording artists who united
to produce several music-related contributions for the victims of the
quake. A single produced by a duo of French composers with Armenian
ties as well as a studio album were released by the British music
industry featuring songs that were donated by mainstream rock bands
and with the proceeds going to the rebuilding efforts in Armenia.
A group of French recording artists and actors came together with the
French writer and composer Charles Aznavour to record the 1989 song
"Pour toi Armenie"-For you Armenia. With Armenian composer Garvarentz,
they formed a foundation called Aznavour for Armenia and composed
the song as a call for help for the Armenians. Rock Aid Armenia, also
known in earlier stages as Live Aid Armenia, was another humanitarian
effort by the British music industry to raise money for the victims
of the earthquake.
By July 1989, about $500 million in donations had been delivered to
the victims in Armenia from 113 countries.