Ministry of Emergency Situations
of the Republic of Armenia

On June 24, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia held a press conference to present the first results of the recently, successfully installed the latest digital inclinometer in Geophysical Observatory Garni.

Within the framework of cooperation between the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the Czech side supports the Ministry of Emergency Situations in re-launch and upgrading operations of the observatory.

Researchers of Seismology Department of the Institute of Rock Structures and Mechanics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Doctors Pavel Kalenda and Libor Neumann, with the help of SPS specialists, recently, in one of the rooms of the tunnel, instead of the old one, had installed a new digital inclinometer with which deformations of the earth crust would be measured as a direct indication of a possible strong earthquake.

The inclinometer is already fully operating, and the data are obtained in real time.

During the conference, Dr. Pavel Kalenda introduced job characteristics of the inclinometer, capabilities of the device and the results of the first measurements.
- This is one of the best devices of its kind in the world, also in the global system of observation networks, which shows horizontal crustal deformation. For the device installation is chosen the segment of the observatory tunnel, which is closer to a seismic fault Garni, that allows to obtain the most accurate data even during the smallest changes.

The Head of SPS of the MoES Hrachya Petrosyan in his speech mentioned, that the world has not yet got the formula giving the general solution of the problem of earthquake prediction, but monitoring and studying crustal deformation, and other physical, chemical, hydro-geological parameters bring us closer to solving the most important problems of the forecast of strong earthquakes.

Director of the observatory Garni Lion Hakhverdyan noted, that measurements of crustal inclination in Armenia had been done since 1983. Meanwhile, the inclinometer installed in our country and produced in the Soviet Union also considered one of the best, which operated until 1994.

The installation of the latest inclinometer - is only the beginning of cooperation between the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. New European bilateral and multilateral European programs, exchange of experience, training young professionals, etc. were also planned to be implemented.