Live Discussion: Rehousing Programme for Earthquake Victims in Gyumri and Spitak (video)
At 12.00, the Media Center, in cooperation with the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, is hosting a discussion to talk about the ongoing programme to rehouse Gyumri and Spitak residents who lost their homes during the 1988 earthquake. The speakers include: Yevgeniya Atayan, Head of the Housing Policy and Utility Infrastructure Agency at the Ministry of Urban Development Alexander Movsisyan, Advisor to the RA Minister of Urban Development; Ashkhen Babayan, Chair of the Spitak Helsinki Group Vahan Tumasyan, Head of the Shirak Centre The last group of Armenians still waiting to be resettled 27 years after the quake have been told they will finally be given permanent housing by the end of next year. Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan told an October 7 meeting that by the end of 2016, the remaining earthquake victims would receive papers entitling them to buy apartments. This would enable the ministry of urban development to put the final pieces of its housing solution in place.
