KHACHATUR ABOVYAN ARMENIAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

A head of the 27th anniversary of the devastating earthquake of Spitak, ASPU students hosted Karine Barseghyan, Deputy Head of the Seismic Risk Reduction Department of the Seismic Protection Service of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations, and Armen Antonyan, Head of Buildings and Structures Seismic Resistance Department. The visit was organized at the initiative of the Department of Geography and its Teaching Methods of the Pedagogical University. 

 During the meeting, the guests spoke about earthquakes, provided tips on conducting earthquake drills and on earthquake preparedness, said what should be done before, during, and after earthquakes and cited definite examples to explain the consequences. 

 The experts said their goal is to educate and inform people of disaster contingency and self-help plans, irrespective of their age. The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations regularly initiates disaster awareness and earthquake preparedness training in different institutions. 

“We believe that especially future teachers must master these skills, be aware of earthquake risks and hazards in order to be able transfer their knowledge to schoolchildren. School-age children learn things much faster,” Karine Barseghyan said. She said there is no need to fear but we cannot prevent natural disasters. “We need to be armed with appropriate knowledge to be able to protect ourselves and others,” she said.