ARMENIAN EARTHQUAKE RELIVED IN A MOVIE
by Florence Avakian

HULIQ
Dec 3 2009
SC

A man continues to search for his son for the past 18 years. A
woman has made a shrine of her daughter’s shoes, clothes, mirror,
comb and letters.

Another mother has decided to have more children to replace her
dead ones. And finally, a family has named their daughter for her
dead sister.

These are the heartbreaking images in the film, "Giumri" that was shown
on Friday evening, November 13, at the 33rd annual Margaret Mead Film
and Video Festival at the world famous Museum of Natural History in
New York by Czech filmmaker Jana Sevcikova. The film chroniclesthe
devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Armenia on December 7, 1988
which leveled the city of Giumri. Official estimates put the death
toll at 25,000, but unofficial figures claim 100,000.

Today, almost 21 years later, both parents and living children still
believe that the souls of their killed siblings live in them.