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IN DEFIANCE TO FATE
http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1639:-in-defiance-to-fate&catid=3:all&Itemid=4
Sunday, 07 December 2014 11:27
December 7, 1988... Day of Remembrance of the Spitak earthquake
victims... It has forever entered the history of the Armenian people
as asad and tragic date. 26 years have passed since that fateful day,
when a terrible earthquake took place in the northern regions of
Armenia, erasing the town of Spitak from the earth, destructing the
towns of Leninakan, Kirovakan, Stepanavan and hundreds of villages,
claiming the lives of 25 thousand people.
By the standards of human life, it is, in fact, quite a long time,
but even the relentless and ruthless time was not able to erase the
pain of that terrible tragedy from the collective memory of our people
and to make bring it to oblivion.
It is known that a man is alive untill alive is the memory of him.
This truth applies equally to a people. On December 7, the Armenian
people all over the world will honor the memory of the earthquake
victims. On this day, keeping a mournful silence, we will again
remember and mentallyexperience the 25-year-old dramatic events.
Citizens of Armenia and Artsakh, as well as our compatriots in the
Diaspora will bow their heads before themonuments to the victims of
the earthquake, light commemoration candles and say prayers for the
peace of each soul killed by the blind disaster...
The thousand-year history of the Armenian people contains many tragic
pages that have forever etched in the people's memory, constantly
echoing there with undying pain. This sad series was replenished by
the Spitak earthquake. Perhaps the Armenian people, which went through
a lot of troubles and destructions, regardless of the incompatibility
of the scales and consequences, experienced such a monstrous shock
only during the Genocide of 1915.Armenia became the epicenter of not
only the heaviest earthquake, but also of an immense tragedy and pain
that the human mind was not able to reach.
Fortunately, those truly apocalyptic days, the Armenian people did
not break and did not despair. Everyone took the tragedy as his
own, feltempathy for the fate of the motherland, and realized his
responsibility for its future. The terrible trouble consolidated the
Armenian people and made itgather the collective will in a fist. Like
at the critical stages of its hard fate, the people mobilized all its
moral potential to confront the tragedy and to eliminate the disaster
consequences. As if yielding to the self-preservation instinct, our
people, thanks to its unity, courage and fortitude, could overcomethe
trouble, restore the destructions, and rise from the ashes.
On December 7, we remember not only the victims of the tragedy. On
this day, we also remember with gratitude those who responded to our
tragedy at the fateful time and stretched unselfishly their helping
hand to us. A wave of solidarity with the Armenian people arose
worldwide. The news echoed painfully in the hearts of millions of
people, uniting them in the name of a sublime idea - not to leave
Armenia alone with its trouble and to help it overcome the ordeal.
Armenia became the center of attraction of human kindness and
compassion, where humanitarian assistance from all over the world
was delivered and thousands of volunteers came to participate in
rescue operations in the disaster area. The huge moral and material
support by the peoples of the then our common motherland - the USSR
and by many world countries allowed Armenia to withstand the blows of
the merciless disaster. The memory of our people will keep forever
the gratitude to those who did not remain indifferent and displayed
complicity and compassion.
Unfortunately, natural disasters, including earthquakes, were,
are, and will probably remain the companions of the mankind, from
time to time collecting their mournful tribute. However, in a hard
struggle with a disaster the winner is who can comprehend its tragic
consequences and learn lessons from them. That's why the present and
future generations must avoid the repetition of fatal errors that
are truly disastrous for our small nation.
We suffered huge and irretrievable losses, but we withstood this blow
and came out of the ordeal with honor. And this, too, is a guarantee
of the viability and long life of our people - to live in defiance
to fate. Life triumphed, trampling death. The huge destructions and
enormous deprivations are in the past. But, alive is the inescapable
pain of losing thousands and thousands of our compatriots - the
innocent victims of the tragedy, for which December 7, 1988 was the
last day in their life. Also, alive is the memory of them...
Leonid MARTIROSSIAN
Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper
http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1639:-in-defiance-to-fate&catid=3:all&Itemid=4
Sunday, 07 December 2014 11:27
December 7, 1988... Day of Remembrance of the Spitak earthquake
victims... It has forever entered the history of the Armenian people
as asad and tragic date. 26 years have passed since that fateful day,
when a terrible earthquake took place in the northern regions of
Armenia, erasing the town of Spitak from the earth, destructing the
towns of Leninakan, Kirovakan, Stepanavan and hundreds of villages,
claiming the lives of 25 thousand people.
By the standards of human life, it is, in fact, quite a long time,
but even the relentless and ruthless time was not able to erase the
pain of that terrible tragedy from the collective memory of our people
and to make bring it to oblivion.
It is known that a man is alive untill alive is the memory of him.
This truth applies equally to a people. On December 7, the Armenian
people all over the world will honor the memory of the earthquake
victims. On this day, keeping a mournful silence, we will again
remember and mentallyexperience the 25-year-old dramatic events.
Citizens of Armenia and Artsakh, as well as our compatriots in the
Diaspora will bow their heads before themonuments to the victims of
the earthquake, light commemoration candles and say prayers for the
peace of each soul killed by the blind disaster...
The thousand-year history of the Armenian people contains many tragic
pages that have forever etched in the people's memory, constantly
echoing there with undying pain. This sad series was replenished by
the Spitak earthquake. Perhaps the Armenian people, which went through
a lot of troubles and destructions, regardless of the incompatibility
of the scales and consequences, experienced such a monstrous shock
only during the Genocide of 1915.Armenia became the epicenter of not
only the heaviest earthquake, but also of an immense tragedy and pain
that the human mind was not able to reach.
Fortunately, those truly apocalyptic days, the Armenian people did
not break and did not despair. Everyone took the tragedy as his
own, feltempathy for the fate of the motherland, and realized his
responsibility for its future. The terrible trouble consolidated the
Armenian people and made itgather the collective will in a fist. Like
at the critical stages of its hard fate, the people mobilized all its
moral potential to confront the tragedy and to eliminate the disaster
consequences. As if yielding to the self-preservation instinct, our
people, thanks to its unity, courage and fortitude, could overcomethe
trouble, restore the destructions, and rise from the ashes.
On December 7, we remember not only the victims of the tragedy. On
this day, we also remember with gratitude those who responded to our
tragedy at the fateful time and stretched unselfishly their helping
hand to us. A wave of solidarity with the Armenian people arose
worldwide. The news echoed painfully in the hearts of millions of
people, uniting them in the name of a sublime idea - not to leave
Armenia alone with its trouble and to help it overcome the ordeal.
Armenia became the center of attraction of human kindness and
compassion, where humanitarian assistance from all over the world
was delivered and thousands of volunteers came to participate in
rescue operations in the disaster area. The huge moral and material
support by the peoples of the then our common motherland - the USSR
and by many world countries allowed Armenia to withstand the blows of
the merciless disaster. The memory of our people will keep forever
the gratitude to those who did not remain indifferent and displayed
complicity and compassion.
Unfortunately, natural disasters, including earthquakes, were,
are, and will probably remain the companions of the mankind, from
time to time collecting their mournful tribute. However, in a hard
struggle with a disaster the winner is who can comprehend its tragic
consequences and learn lessons from them. That's why the present and
future generations must avoid the repetition of fatal errors that
are truly disastrous for our small nation.
We suffered huge and irretrievable losses, but we withstood this blow
and came out of the ordeal with honor. And this, too, is a guarantee
of the viability and long life of our people - to live in defiance
to fate. Life triumphed, trampling death. The huge destructions and
enormous deprivations are in the past. But, alive is the inescapable
pain of losing thousands and thousands of our compatriots - the
innocent victims of the tragedy, for which December 7, 1988 was the
last day in their life. Also, alive is the memory of them...
Leonid MARTIROSSIAN
Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper