AZG Armenian Daily #052, 25/03/2005

Nature

LANDSLIDE IN VOGHJABERD HINDERS TRAFFIC

Quite a big part of Garni-Geghard road became totally impassable
because of the Voghjaberd landslide.

In fact, Voghjaberd landslide has reached the critical point, i.e. 900
meters of the road are ruined. Today, the road is controlled everyday.

For many years, the road wasn’t capitally renovated, as the community
and the government didn’t chose the most effective method of
annihilating the landslide and the problem grew bigger with time.

Today they do the same, they fill the ruined parts but it doesn’t
help and the landslide grows bigger. “When we fill the hole with a
bit heavier materials, the next day a new one opens. It seems that
we will have to build an overpass stretching for 1 km to secure the
work of the traffic. We need serious investments,” Andranik Manukian,
RA transport and communication minister, said.

“We shouldn’t have left that in this condition for so long. The
landslide is too big. They say that we can build a subway there,
but it can’t be built in the landslide,” Ruben Yadoyan, head of
Hydrogeology laboratory at RA National Academy of Sciences, specialist
of landslide, said.

The specialists studied the road 15 years ago. Today, many things
changed. The specialists first of all suggest creating a relevant
group for the research and study the whole territory.

It’s known that the Japanese are carrying out anti-landslide programs
in Armenia for a year already. They study the landslide areas of
Armenia with the local specialists.

By Karine Danielian

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress