Armenian deputy minister oversees aid to tsunami victims
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
10 Jan 05
[Presenter] Some Armenians were also affected by tsunami in South East
Asia. Matevos Gevorgyan and his son, born in the village of Voskepar
in Armenia’s Tavush District, and now living in Russia’s Irkutsk
Region, were injured during a holiday in Thailand.
The US citizen and our countryman, Armine Gevorgyan, went missing. No
other Armenians were affected by the earthquake. Armenia is among the
countries which are rendering aid to the victims of the South East
Asia disaster. The aid is varied and multifaceted. Some Armenian
organizations are offering rehabilitation treatment [to tsunami
victims] in Yerevan.
[Armen Bayburdyan, former ambassador to India, captioned] There is a
small place, Kaolack, more than 80 per cent of this area was covered
by the big waves of tsunami, and all locals and tourists died
there. Armine Gevorkyan was among them.
[Correspondent] Armen Bayburdyan is sure that Armine Gevorkyan was the
only Armenian to fell victim to the tsunami. The former Armenian
ambassador to India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Nepal said that we have
no community in Indonesia, but the 50-strong Armenian community in
Thailand was not affected. Armenia pledged 15m dram [about 30,000
dollars] in aid to the tsunami victims which consists of blankets and
mobile generators. It also gave antibiotics and anaesthetics amounting
to 10m drams [about 20,000]. This aid is to be shipped to Sri Lanka.
[Armen Bayburdyan] The Armenian church in Calcutta decided to allocate
210,000 dollars via the Armenian embassy to the Indian government.
The honorary consul of Armenia in Thailand, Norayr Ter-Gevorkyan,
pledged to construct houses for 250 families in Phuket and sent 1,000
workers from his construction company for that.
[Correspondent] The Armenian community in Australia is also organizing
humanitarian aid and programmes.
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Bayburdyan [formerly ambassador
to India] oversees the humanitarian programmes and aid given by the
Armenians all over the world to the tsunami victims.
Hermine Bagdasaryan, Arman Garibyan, “Aylur”.