Disclaimer
This report was compiled by an ADRC visiting researcher (VR) from ADRC
member countries.
The views expressed in the report do not necessarily reflect the views of theADRC. The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on themaps in the report also do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by theADRC.

Country Report: REPUBLIC of ARMENIA

Armine Khangaldyan
Principal specialist,
Department of Observation Networkand Information Analysis

ADRC Visiting Researcher 2012

General Information
Official name

Republic of Armenia (RA), briefly - Armenia

Name in official language

Hayastani Hanrapetutyun,Hanrapetutyun, briefly - Hayastan
rectangular panel with three equal horizontal stripes

National flagof red, blue,
orange from top to bottom in the proportion 1:2

Head of the State

President

Legislative powerone--chamber National Assembly
one

Official language
CapitalAdministrative andterritorial unit
National currency

Armenian (is part of IndoIndo-European family oflanguages)
YerevanMarz (11 Marzes in all including Yerevan city)
Dram (international currency code - AMD)

Geographical Information
Territory
Average elevation above
sea level

29.74 thousand square km (is comparable with theterritory of Belgium or Albania)
1800 mThe highest peak Aragats mountain - 4090 m
The lowest altitude Debed river canyon - 380 m
The greatest extent 365 km
Region north latitudes of subtropics
Climate dry, continental
Average temperature in January - -6.8°
6.8°C, in July - +20.8°+20.8°C
Time zone Greenwich mean time + 4 hours

Demographic Information
Population

3.2 Million,
population of the capital (Yerevan)(Yerevan)- 1.1 Million

Armenians (98%), Russians, Yezidis
Yezidis,, Kurds,
Ethnic breakdown Assyrians, Greeks, Ukrainians, Jews andrepresentatives of other nationalities
Religion

Christianity (Armenian Apostolic Church), professedby the vast majority of the population

Historical Information
IV-III thousand years origin of forearmenian tribal unions on the territory of the Armenian Plateau
B.C.
782 B.C. establishment of Yerevan city
VI-V centuries B.C. completion of the Armenian people's ethnic forming on the Armenian Plateau territory anddevelopment of the Armenian language

189 B.C. formation of independent Armenian state
301 A.D. official acceptance by Armenia of Christianity as a state religion
405 A.D. creation by Mesrop Mashtots of the Armenian Alphabet - the basis of written language
428 A.D. partition of Armenia between Rome and Persia
VII century Armenia is in the power of Arabs
884 A.D. liberation of the northwestern part of Armenia and recovery of Armenian State system
1080-1375 Armenian State system established in Kilikia (Mediterranean area)
1639 partition of Armenia between Turkey (Western Armenia) and Persia (Eastern Armenia)
1828 Eastern Armenia joins Russia
1915 deportation and genocide of Armenians in Western Armenia
1918 Armenian State system recovery in Eastern Armenia-Declaration of the Republic of Armenia
1920 establishment of the Soviet rule in Armenia
1922-1991 Armenia is a part of the USSR
1991 collapse of the USSR and declaration of Independence of the Republic of Armenia
1991 Armenia is a founding member of the Commonwealth of Independent States
1992 Armenia is a member of the U.N.O.
1999 signing of partnership agreement between Armenia and the European Union
2001 Armenia is a full member of the Council of Europe

Armenia’s climate is dry and temperate. The
summers are warm and the winters are cold andsnowy. Much of the country is mountainous andaltitude differences can have a significant effect on
local climate.
The population of Armenia (as of 2011) is estimatedto be almost 3 million people. There are cities ofnotable size, such as Gyumri (170,000) and Vanadzor(115,000).
Armenia was a part of the former USSR. It gained
its independence on September 21, 1991.

The village Tatev is remarkable for its ancientmonastery, which was founded in the 9th century
century.. And in
the courtyard of the monastery, survived a stunningmonument to the engineering art of the ancients,ancients,-Gavazan
Gavazan..
This octagonal pillar, built of stones of pure Tesco, heightof 8 m. But most interesting is the fact that because ofhinge joint with stylobate and very accurate calculation, inearthquakes, and he rocked back in his position!

Tsitsernakaberd is a memorial dedicated to the victims of the
Armenian Genocide. Every year on April 24, hundreds of thousands ofArmenians gather here to remember the victims of the 1915 ArmenianGenocide.

It consists of two fused bases of thecones of extinct volcanoes.
Above the height of 4,100 m, themountain mostly consists of igneous rockscovered by an ice cap.
The Bible says that it first emerged fromthe Ararat descending waters of theFlood, landed here the inhabitants of
Noah's ark.

Although Armenia and Japan are very
far from each other, they have much incommon. Both nations have their own
characteristic old "business cards“-2
amazing mountain that keeps on cheeringfor centuries.

Armenia is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world (except
the sea disasters), but In Armenia the earthquake disaster is the mostharmful for people and property.

1.5%
3.15%

1.2%
0.15%0%Earthquakes
Mudslides
Landslides and rockfalls

94%

Floods
Irradiation

The recent major earthquake completely destroyed the Spitak, in part-of
Leninakan and Kirovakan.

Ministry of Emergency Situationsof the Republic of Armenia
MES ofRA

RescueServiceNational
Survey for
Seismic
Protection

Hydrometeorolo
gy AndMonitoring
State Service

National
Technical
SafetyCenterState Of
Emergency
CrisisManagement
AcademyAtmosphericPhenomena In
Active Service
Impact

MES of RA is a republican
body of executive authority,
which in line with suchcompetences as are vested init by laws and other legal
acts, develops, implements
andcoordinatesRA
government’s policy in thearea of civil defense andprotection of the populationin emergency situations
situations..

Armenian NSSP

General activities:
 Provision of seismic hazard monitoring in theterritory of RA
 Assessment of the seismic hazard and seismic riskof the territories
 Seismic risk reduction
reduction..

Structure

SRR Strategy includes:









Seismic Hazard and Risk Assessment;
Vulnerability reduction in urban areas, including reinforcement andupgrading of existing buildings, design of new codes and standards;
Public awareness, people education and training;
Early warning and notification;
Partnership establishment, involving public and private organizations;
Risk management, including Emergency Response and Rescue
Operations;
Disaster relief and people rehabilitation;
Insurance;
State disaster Law and regulations.

Seismic Protection activities are regulated by anumber of laws and legislative acts and national
programs of the Republic of Armenia
Armenia::
Law of RA

The Law of the Republic of Armenia on Seismic Protection(2002)The Complex Program of Seismic Risk Reduction in the RA
Territory (1999)

The Complex Program of Seismic Risk Reduction in Yerevan
Resolutions of city (1999)
Government
The Resolution of the Government of RA on establishment of
the list of critical important and general facilities in the fieldof seismic protection (2003)

Regulation “National Survey for Seismic Protection” Agency (2008)






earthquake engineering
population education and training
preparedness of government officials
and local authorities
development of early warning systemcompiling of hazard and maps

Seismic monitoring is very important to earthquake registration in Republics ofArmenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and seismic regime analysis, also to prediction thestrong or not strong but notable earthquakes.
Armenian NSSP is in charge of the seismic protection and seismic monitoring
system.

National observation network
Armenian NSSP has thefollowing international and local
monitoring systems:

In Garni, at the Geophysical observatory, installed seismic
recording station. This station included in the IRIS Global
Seismographic Network (GSN) and providing seismographic
data to research earthquake hazard mitigation and theMonitoring verification of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

USGS-IRIS Project
CTBT International
System (Comprehensive nuclear
Test-Ban Treaty)• The Real Time Seismic Intensity
Display System (Joint ArmenianJapanese (JICA) project)• READINESS geochemical stations(Armenian-German project)• VaykSeismic array network(Armenian-French project)• Observation Network• Local Seismic Network••

The Armenian NSSP has a unique multi-parameter observation network
consisting of 150 stations (40 parameters) for real-time monitoring ofgeosphere.

StationsNumber
Radiometric 25

Geomagnetic monitoring 10
Electromagnetic monitoring 7
Atmospheric pressure measuring 7
Seism-biologic 2
Hydro-geodynamic 13
Hydro-geochemical Regional 7
Hydro-geochemical READINESS 5Seismic 10
IRIS (international global network 1station, unique in the region, longperiod)
Ground strong motion 20
Telemetric seismic 28
Real Time Seismic Intensity Display 5

“Noyemberian”
stationsituated 75 km northeast of the Spitak
earthquake source zone.
It became evident thatanomalous changes inground water level
took
place
from
December
1till
December 10, 1988, i.e.
duringtheSpitak
earthquake preparation
and realization.

The “HUYS” (HOPE) new automatic system for current seismic
hazard assessment based on time series data of various parameters,
obtained the National observation network, is developed and implemented
at the Armenian NSSP. The system is on the stage of testing andexperimentation.

1:500.000), compiled at Armenian
Short description of system “HUYS” (scale(HOPE)
NSSP in 1998

For seismic risk reduction the great value
has reliability of an estimation of current
seismic hazard.

1. Database comprise:
1) Long-term time values of various
parameters from National observation
networks,
2) National seismic catalogue,
3) Seismic hazard map of RA territory(scale1:500.000),
compiledatArmenian NSSP in 1998

National Seismic Catalogue1) Long-term time values of various
parameters from National
observation networks,

Short description of system “HUYS” (HOPE)
2.Knowledge base comprise:
1) Results of testing 11 strong regional (M≥≥6.0) and 7 local notable(3.5≤≤M≤≤5.0) earthquakes: forms of display of anomalies-precursors of
the tested earthquakes for all used parameters, and also sizes ofprobability of seismic realization of anomalies-precursors.
2) results of testing of “HUYS” (HOPE) on separate parameters ofearthquakes with magnitude M≥≥3.5, events in RA territory and nextregions,3) other materials.

Results of test and testing “HUYS“ (HOPE)
As a result of “HUYS” application on separate parameters and on
their wide complex size Zcur. will be defined In conditional points
and zone S of current seismic hazard in territory RA.
If the size of current hazard is more than size of critical hazard
in the given zone an earthquake in territory RA could be occurred.
The program counts also time interval of hazard ∆t.
For the purpose of solving various tasks concerning an estimationof current seismic hazard, now the testing of 20 notableearthquakes with М≥≥3.5, events in territory RA for 1988-2007 isheld and Hope results in hopeful results.

The results of testing for the earthquake 15km NE Garni(14.10.2011, M=3.8).
In the course of work seismogene
anomalies at first are separated.

Then the zone and size of current seismic hazard are calculated.

The results of testing for the earthquake 15km NE Garni(14.10.2011, M=3.8).
Finally, the zone of current seismic hazard is very close (17km) to theepicenter of the occurred earthquake.