6 minutes of Armenia coverage in Transcaucasian Telegraph’s Aug/14/2024 edition.
from a press conference by the seismic protection agency
Context: We received a telegraph on August 12 that dozens of houses were damaged and formed cracks during the M4.2 earthquake near the Lake Sevan, not far from Martuni. Armenia also uses the MSK-64 scale (intensity 1 to 12) to measure the earthquake intensity. The Monday quake was i6. The devastating earthquake of 1988 in northern Armenia was i10.
• The USSR underestimated the seismic activity in Armenia and constructed the residential buildings for only i7-i8.
• Yerevan is located on an i9 seismic zone.
• There are two faults that pose a direct threat to Yerevan: the Yerevanian Fault and the Garni Fault.
• Yerevanian Fault passes through the capital but its potential is weak.
• Garni Fault is a lot more dangerous. There was a M7.3 earthquake in the 18th century. [It stretches from north to south, located several kilometers east of Yerevan]
• The quake’s magnitude is not the only thing the Agency considers while assessing potential destruction. Also important are the structure of the soil, the current condition of buildings, and the depth of the earthquake.
• There are 4,900 residential buildings in Yerevan. The average building lasts 50-70 years. This is when they were built: 8% before 1950, 29% in 1950-1970, 24% in 1970-1980, 23% in 1981-1988, 15% in 1989-2000, 1% in 2001-2022.
• 45% of all these buildings in Yerevan are very vulnerable, but not all of them are located near the fault zone. They are spread across the capital and some of them are located further away from potential epicenters.
• It’s impossible to know the exact number or percentage of vulnerable buildings because many residents made modifications to their apartments, damaged structural walls, built additional floors, and moved their balconies forward, making entire buildings vulnerable.
• There are about 6 main types of buildings in Armenia. The "Series 111" buildings in Gyumri collapsed during the 1988 quake. Those were simple buildings and it was visually possible to tell they were vulnerable.
• Today, before someone is allowed to build a structure in Yerevan, the Agency has to analyze the plan to verify its compliance with the seismic code. There have been instances of the Agency rejecting plans for not meeting the code.
• After the plan is approved by the Agency, during the construction, other state departments and licensed companies are sent to construction sites to verify the compliance. [at least in theory]
• New buildings come with seismic "pads". Seismic retrofit is possible on many old buildings but sometimes it’s cheaper to build a new one. There are very few old buildings in Armenia that have been fitted with these "pads".
• Armenia’s modernized earthquake detection system can detect more quakes and the Agency is receiving more information from neighboring countries, which gives the false impression that the total number of quakes has significantly increased in Armenia in recent years.
• The effectiveness of an early warning system is limited in Armenia due to the country’s small size.
satellite images show that Azerbaijan has destroyed the village Mokhrenes in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh
The village was occupied by Azerbaijani forces during the 2020 war. The majority of the houses, the school, the kindergarten, and other buildings have been demolished.
The St. Sargis Church was destroyed back in 2020.
The entire Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh was forced to flee in 2023 after months of hunger and lack of access to energy caused by Azerbaijan’s blockade that ended with an armed invasion.
the Russian spy who took an interview from Pashinyan and visited Nagorno-Karabakh during the 2020 war
The West and Russia exchanged several prisoners this month. Among them was the spy Pablo Gonzales, a Spanish journalist who was in reality an ethnic Russian named Pavel Rubtsov.
Gonzales was arrested by Polish authorities in 2022 while covering the topic of Ukrainian refugees. He was charged with collecting information for Moscow from war zones and working as its spy.
Gonzales was active during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war as well. He was covering the story from Nagorno-Karabakh as a reporter representing the Spanish EFE outlet.
On 1 October 2020, Azerbaijan bombed the civilian population of Martuni, injuring several journalists. Gonzales was reportedly in the group but was not wounded. Gonzales was filmed assisting wounded people; he gained popularity in Nagorno-Karabakh. On 23 October 2020, Gonzales conducted an interview with PM Nikol Pashinyan.
Gonzalez is half Spanish half Russian. His mother, Maria Gonzalez, was an immigrant in the USSR whose family fled Franco’s regime during the Spanish Civil War. His father is a Soviet-era scientist Alexei Rubtsov.
Gonzalez lived in Russia until the age of 9 and speaks Russian fluently. He even managed to gain the trust of several Russian opposition figures. He collected information from late opposition leader Boris Nemtsov’s foundation and other opposition figures like Karamurza and Yashin.
Gonzalez also worked as a freelancer for the U.S.-funded media outlet Voice of America. He was arrested by Polish officers on the border with Ukraine under the suspicion of collecting military-related data for the Russian army.
update: CSTO military exercises launch in Russia, without a delegation from Armenia
The Armenian government continues to shun the Russian-led military bloc.
hundreds of residents of Yerevan fell victim to a new wave of scam
Someone calls and tells you your relative who lives abroad has been involved in a car accident and that you have to send money ASAP. What do you do?
an unidentified fucking moron ran a red light in Yerevan at the speed of light, almost obliterating several pedestrians who were crossing the road: VIDEO
Armenian Museum in Jerusalem’s Old City reopens amid Holy Land conflict
The Edward and Helen Mardigian Armenian Museum seeks to preserve 1,700 years of Armenian presence in Jerusalem.
originally a monastery and theological center for Armenian priests, in 1922, the museum’s large stone building was transformed into an orphanage for 600 Armenian children and teenagers who had survived the genocide.
When the building was no longer needed as an orphanage, it was turned into a museum to house the many artifacts related to Armenian life.
Upon entering the museum, visitors encounter a gorgeous sixth-century mosaic floor depicting vines, many species of birds and the “Tree of Life,” a popular theme in Christian and Armenian art.
Armenia seeks UNESCO recognition for the ancient temple in Garni and the Symphony of Stones
The iconic pre-Christian temple of Garni, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Armenia, is apparently not a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Armenian government plans to file an application to recognize Garni and the Symphony of Stones natural monument on the organization’s provisional World Heritage list.
UNESCO recently approved Armenia’s application to include the Tirinkatar archeological site and the "dragon stone" (vishapaqar) monuments on the provisional World Heritage list.
Elina Avanesyan makes history for Armenia with first victory in the Cincinnati Open tennis tournament
was a history-making moment for Armenia as Avanesyan became the first player representing the country to compete in a Hologic WTA Tour main draw
Context about her move to Armenia in August 5 telegraph.
the Investigative Committee reports "unprecedented" recovery of financial damages caused by dishonest businesses
2023: ֏34B (H1 & H2)
2024: ֏25B (H1)
The funds were recovered while resolving some of the active 171,000 (+15%) criminal cases.
There were criminal charges against 8,000 individuals. Prosecutors sought pretrial arrest for 1,600 of them, of which 1,200 were granted by courts. Hundreds of suspects are under house arrest.
IC: Many violations related to VAT fraud schemes, tax evasion, and transactions that did not disclose the goods.
One of the largest cases was a vodka producer that falsified transactions to evade taxes; there were 5 suspects. The damages, ֏3.2B in total, were recovered in full during the investigation. The criminal charges were dropped against the cooperating suspects as envisaged under the law.
Most of the recovered funds came from cases related to car importers, large malls, manufacturers, and condo builders.
The number of repeated offenders is on the decline and we regularly audit the subsequent conduct of offenders. Our records show that these businesses begin to disclose a larger turnout, the real turnout. //
The Customs agency has drafted a bill to introduce a strict upper limit on the scale of tax evasion that qualifies for leniency. More specifically, in order for the suspect to be able to request the felony charges to be dropped in exchange for cooperation, the size of tax evasion cannot exceed ֏10 million.
Nikol Pashinyan has convinced his wife to join their regular morning cycling ritual: VIDEO
"Today we rode 26 kilometers. Kecce the bicycle."
Pashinyan revealed personal information during a meeting with students
• He would have quit politics and worked as a writer if the 2018 revolution had failed.
• Geography was his favorite subject in school and he thought he’d grow up and become a geography teacher. [explains the desire to play with lands]
• He received good grades in school but only from subjects that interested him. [ADHD confirmed]
Central Bank minted silver collector coins dedicated to artist Charles Aznavour and sculptor Yervand Kochar: IMAGES
dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Aznavour (author of thousands of songs) and 125th anniversary of Kochar (who made all the famous statues in Yerevan).
Potential earthquake damage: How close is Yerevan to seismic fault, how old are buildings? \ I know Pablo, Noriega, he owes me a hundred favors \ Evaders caught \ Azerbaijan wipes out village in Nagorno-Karabakh \ Museum in Jerusalem \ Garni \ Collector coins \ Maniac driver \ and…
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