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Information on Disaster Risk Reduction of the Member Countries

Armenia

General Information

Formal Name: Republic of Armenia
Republic of Armenia is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Armenia shares its western border with Turkey, northern border with Georgia, eastern border with Azerbaijan and southern border with Iran. Land area is 29,000 square kilometers. Most of the terrain being covered with mountains and high plateau, the average altitude of the terrain is 1,800 meters high. The climate is highland continental with a hot summer and cold winter.
The capital of the Republic of Armenia is Yerevan. Of the 3 million people, 98.1 percent are the Armenian and 1.9 percent Russians, Yezidis, Kurds, Assyrians, Greeks, Ukrainians, Jews and representatives of other nationalities.

Overview of Disasters

Armenia is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world (except the sea disasters), but in Armenia the earthquake disaster is the most harmful for people and property. Among various types of disasters, main hazard for the territory of Armenia is the earthquake-94%, and only 6% is another hazards.

Recent Major Disasters

Spitak Earthquake (December 1988)

The Spitak earthquake occurred in December 1988 was a devastating disaster whose Richter scale was 6.9 claimed the lives of 25,000, and 500,000 people became homeless.

Disaster Management System

Legal System

The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia has passed:
1. Law on the Protection of the Population in Emergency (December 1998),　2. Law on Seismic Protection (June 2002), 3. Law on Fire Security (February 1999), 4. Law on Safe Utilization of Atomic energy for Peaceful Purposes (April 2001), 5. Law on Environmental Education and Public Awareness (November 2001), 6. Law on Task Force and Status of a Rescuer (June 2004), and 7. Principals of Environmental Legislation

Organization

Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES-Armenia) is in charge of national level disaster management.
Earthquake Disaster Management System is as shown in the left figure. RSSP (Regional Survey for Seismic Protection) takes various measures for earthquake disaster management.