The Issue of Shelters Remains Up in the Air: 'Hayastan'

Last year, around this time, it became clear that we had no shelters in a wartime situation. Particularly during the 44-day war, when the population of Artsakh was mainly taking refuge in bomb shelters, it became evident that the basements of residential buildings in the capital, Yerevan, were mainly unsuitable for living and surviving in these places during times of danger. In the basements, people often had to live in close quarters with rats, and discussing sanitary and hygienic conditions would be unnecessary.

During the war, residents of Yerevan also expressed interest and raised concerns about which of the basements of residential buildings in the capital were adapted for shelter purposes. However, after the trilateral statement of November 10, discussions about bomb shelters were pushed to the background. The 'Hayastan' newspaper sent an inquiry to the Yerevan municipality to find out how many of the basements in the capital had been converted into shelters over the past year. However, the municipality did not provide any concrete numbers or detailed answers, nor did they clarify what work had been done regarding this vital issue over the past year.

According to the official response from the municipality, 'The material and technical support and funding for the planning, designing, maintenance, operation, and renovation of defense structures are carried out at the expense of the state budget of the Republic of Armenia and local budgets. Based on the above, we inform you that the Yerevan municipality is consistently implementing large-scale measures aimed at the maintenance of shelters and simple hiding places. According to Article 8, Point 1 of the Law on Freedom of Information of the Republic of Armenia, the Yerevan municipality cannot provide more information as it contains elements of confidentiality.'

It turns out that not only is data not provided, but it is also not clarified whether the areas designated for shelters have been put in order or not. All of this is wrapped in a veil of secrecy, which certainly adds an aura to Hayk Marutyan's work, but hardly any effectiveness,” writes the newspaper.

Read the full article in today’s edition of the newspaper.