FACTS AROUND THE WORLD: ARMENIA

Redlands Daily Facts
991528
Aug 4 2009

Redlands residents Joe Sidor, a semiretired civil engineer, and his
wife, Diane, a retired elementary school teacher, travelled to Armenia
in June as volunteers for the Earthwatch Institute in a program titled
Armenia’s Architectural Heritage.

It was the Sidors’ fifth overseas volunteer expedition. Led by Jane
Britt Greenwood, associate professor of architecture at Mississippi
State University, a total of 70 volunteers have taken part in the
program over the past three summers.

In 1988 a devastating earthquake struck northwestern Armenia in and
around the city of Gyumri. It killed 25,000, left a half million
homeless and caused economic hardship due to extensive damage to the
area infrastructure.

Since then, rebuilding of the affected area continues, but at a
slow pace.

The objective of the Armenia’s Architectural Heritage program is
not to provide financial or physical aid for reconstruction, but to
gather data that can be used by local architects, elected officials
and citizens of Gyumri to preserve a unique architectural style.

"In order to integrate new construction into an existing architectural
fabric, design guidelines need to be developed that respect the
historical aspects of architectural and cultural heritage," Greenwood
said.

To that end, the volunteers conducted the following tasks to document
the residential architecture of the community:

They produced measured drawings of selected houses exhibiting
distinctive architectural features.

They photographed architectural details, construction techniques
and materials.

They conducted interviews to reveal memories associated with changes
in design over time.

The interviews remind one that a few of today’s most elderly are
likely to remember another Armenian catastrophe: forced marches out
of Turkey between 1915 and 1922 that resulted in the deaths of 1.5
million Armenians.

"Interacting with the families occupying these houses has made them
more aware of the history of their city, and the role their homes
play in that history," Greenwood said.

"All the families want to see their houses restored, however, neither
they nor the city have the financial means to do so. The presence of
the volunteers raises awareness concerning the need to conserve these
structures, but many home owners feel that they have no way to make
even the slightest improvements," she said.

"Also, the real – or perceived – level of corruption in the city
government also leaves families fearing that if they speak up, they
might lose their home altogether. This fear appears to be valid."

Many of the heavily damaged or destroyed buildings in Armenia
were multi-story and built in the 1970s and ’80s. Their design and
construction was substandard for earthquake territory. Floors were
inadequately connected to supporting columns so, when the earth shook,
one floor collapsed on top of another killing everyone in between,
the Sidors said.

Contractors cheating on the amount of cement that went into the
concrete as well as on the extent of steel reinforcement played some
role in the failure of the buildings, they said.

In comparison with the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Southern
California that measured a 6.7 magnitude and killed 74, the Armenian
earthquake measured 6.9.

Many of the structures still standing are the older structures of
Gyumri, built in the early 20th century before the Soviet era, and
churches and monasteries built in the 12th through 19th centuries
all over seismically active areas in Armenia.

Immediately after the earthquake and for the first time in their
history, Soviet authorities allowed foreigners to bring aid to the
disaster victims. Many countries and organizations made commitments
to assist with reconstruction. The war with Azerbaijan at that time
and the corresponding blockades had nullified most of those intentions.

At the time of the earthquake Armenia had been a part of the USSR. Most
reconstruction ground to a halt and Russian workers went home after
the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Additionally, the blockade of Armenia at the borders of Turkey and
Azerbaijan still makes it nearly impossible to bring building materials
into the country by land, except via Georgia and Iran.

Many of those who lost their homes were given temporary housing in
the form of cargo containers. They are small and cramped, lack decent
insulation and are subject to leaks, the Sidors said. Ten years ago
17,500 people in Gyumri were living in these units. Today, nearly
4,000 live in them.

Many of them still hope they will receive permanent housing that
politicians promised them after the disaster. Unfortunately, there
are very few entities, as those in the United States, to provide
technical or financial assistance to homeowners, city administrators
or businesses wanting to revitalize their neighborhoods.

The Sidors stressed that their two weeks in Armenia was not a vacation.

"We worked hard. It was a commitment of time, money and spirit,"
Joe Sidor said.

"Despite the country’s recent history of tragedy, we received a warm
and pleasant welcome from so many. We returned home with an expanded
education in sociology and a greater inspiration to protect the
world’s cultural heritages."