An earthquake on Monday in Armenia’s Gegharkunik Province caused damage to 82 residential buildings and other structures, Interior Ministry spokesperson Narek Sargsyan reported on Wednesday.
The earthquake, with a magnitude of 5 to 6 degrees on the Richter scale, occurred on August 12 at 2:02 a.m. local time and was centered about 5.6 miles northwest of the town of Martuni. The quake had a depth of 6 miles at the epicenter. In addition to Gegharkunik, the quake was felt in Kotyk and as far as Yerevan.
“Following the earthquake, the head of the Martuni community formed a joint commission with the Rescue Service. Since the earthquake, the Crisis Management Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has received about 120 reports of aftershocks and damage. The commission is currently focused on the village of Yeranos,” Sargsyan, the ministry spokesperson, stated during a press conference on Wednesday.
Gegharkunik Governor Karen Sargsyan (no relation to the ministry spokesperson) visited the Yeranos public school and surveyed the damaged apartments. Damages occurred also in Vardadzor, Dzoraghbyur, Tsakkar, Verin Getashen Tsovasar, Zolakar and Litchk. Damages were mostly reported in old structures, while the quake caused only cracks in the outer or inner walls of new buildings. Schools, kindergartens and other public buildings were also damaged.
Governor Sargsyan instructed officials to add members to the commission dealing with the elimination of the consequences and swiftly assess damages.
“We will try to swiftly conclude the volume of the damages and present it to the government’s attention,” he said. “Fortunately, we didn’t have human losses, and in terms of restoring the material damages we will try to find the necessary means.”
In Yeranos, 56 houses sustained wall cracks, and stones fell from the walls of four barns. Additionally, 22 residential buildings and structures, including a school and kindergarten in Yeranos and two houses in Tsovasar, were damaged. Cracks also appeared in the walls of the school, church, and cultural center in the village of Tsakkar. Sargsyan noted that the assessment of the damage is ongoing, the interior ministry reported.
