Armenia ranks among the 60 most vulnerable to disasters countries in the world according to the World Bank. Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia Ara Nazaryan said this during the parliamentary hearings on “Strengthening and Development of Disaster Resistance” organized in the Parliament.
“About 110 of known natural hazards are typical to Armenia, which is explained by the fact that Armenia is a country of high relief, with abrupt mountain ranges, valleys, large volumes of fragmented altitude, and the altitude variation is about 3500 meters”, said the Deputy Minister adding that Armenia’s territory is completely subject to strong earthquakes: “4.1 percent of the country is subject to sinkholes, 30 percent to floods, 0.5 percent to collapses and rock falls, 12 percent to frost, 15 percent to drought, and 17 percent to hail”.
Although Armenia is poor in forests, forest fires are also typical to our area. In addition to this, there are also man-made disasters.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
