Author(s): A. Simonyan
Linked Author(s): Armine Simonyan
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: Armenia is a small, mountainous, semi-arid country located in the Transcaucasian region. About 75 percent of the land area of 29,800 square kilometers is situated above 1500 meters and fully belongs to the drainage basin of the Araks and Kura rivers. According to the recent calculations Armenia possesses around 7.2 billion cubic meters of renewable surface water resources, which are not equally distributed throughout the country. They are scarce in the densely populated centre of the country as well as in the south and northwest. The main water use directions in Armenia are irrigation, municipal and industrial water supply, hydropower, fishfarming and recreation. Armenia is prone to many types of natural disasters – earthquakes, landslides, hailstorms, droughts, strong winds and floods, which occur frequently and cause significant damage to rural areas. Among water-related dangerous phenomena the mudflows, floods, inundations, hails are quite spread on addition to landslides, freezing and droughts. The paper analyses number of water-related disastres as well as areas prone to various emergencies. In general the following five phases of disastrous event are formulated: anticipatory, warning, impact itself, relief and rehabilitation, in areas frequently affected by unexpected water-related disasters. Development and implementation of waterrelated disasters prevention and mitigation plans is a complex process, which depends on country's institutional and technical capacity building, as well as application of such capacities in an adequate and rational manner. The main objectives recommended to be accomplished to effectively address disaster prevention, preparedness, emergency response, recovery and mitigation include: clear delineation of responsibilities of state/local authorities in emergency situations; development and implementation of complex measures towards protection from floods, mudflows and landslides; development of policies and plans covering disaster preparedness, prevention and concequesces mitigation activities; improvement of water resources monitoring network; establishment and operation of early warning monitoring systems; improvement of mapping of the areas prone to various disasters; improvement of hydro-technical infrastructure and river banks stabilization; capacity building to ensure adequate response to situation as well as public awareness.
Year: 2009