Ministry of Emergency Situations
of the Republic of Armenia

The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia jointly with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) started the implementation of a three-year program on “Landslide Disasters Management in the Republic of Armenia”.

On August 12, in the conference hall of the Ministry of Emergency Situations was held the opening ceremony of the program, during which the Minister of Emergency Situations of the RA A. Yeritsyan and Representative of Uzbekistan’s JICA Iida Jiro signed a protocol regulating the process of the program.

The Minister of Emergency Situations A. Yeritsyan stressed the importance of the program:

- Probably, everyone remembers the last major landslide incident in Armenia, in Tavush region, where there were 5 victims. There are a lot of landslide zones on the territory of the Republic of Armenia, but this is our country, our homeland, and we must learn to live in peace with nature. We had performed a number of effective programs with the Japanese Agency, for what I am grateful, and I believe, that this program will also be effective.

In his speech, the representative of Uzbekistan’s JICA Iida Jiro noted, that the cooperation with the Ministry of Emergency Situations has always been honest:

-In 2010, we provided technical support to the Ministry (28 new, modern fire trucks), and then we had conducted a three-year program for seismic risk assessment. Thanks to the initiative and efforts of the Ministry of Emergency Situations we have recorded very good results. We hope, that this time will be the same.

The program aims at reducing the damage from landslide disasters through creation of a comprehensive management plan for landslide, which will include monitoring, initial and long-term measures, and implementation of appropriate activities. In the program are also included the Ministry of Territorial Administration, ministries of Agriculture, Nature Protection, Urban Development, Energy and Natural Resources, Culture, as well as the National Academy of Sciences and Yerevan State University.

As a result:

- landslide -prone areas in the RA will be studied and the existing data database on landslides will be updated,

- landslide disaster management plan will be compiled, landslide disaster management guidelines will be developed, as well as legal acts and regulations will also be improved for necessary activities,

- the monitoring, prevention, emergency and long-term measures implementation system will also be improved.

Within the framework of the project, the total cost of which is about $ 3 million, a technical assistance will be provided by the Japanese Agency, as well as a pilot program preventing landslides will be implemented in 2-3 landslide areas.

At the end of the meeting, Iida Jiro, accompanied by the Minister of Emergency Situations visited the Crisis Management Center, got acquainted with its structure, mission and technical equipment.