Artashes Alexanyan,a veteran of the Nagorno-Karabakh war who saved 15 children’s lives following the 1988 tragic earthquake, shared his memories and experiences with Tert.am in a recent interview.
Alexanyan says he was at domestic as usual on the tragic day when he suddenly learned of the disaster from television news.
“As I heard wounded people were being moved to Yerevan, and I immediately hurried to the children’s hospital. A young patient there needed rhesus negative blood. They took double portion from me,and I later learned the child had been saved. After recovering four hours later, I headed to Spitak.”
Alexanyan remembers rescuing kids from rubble at the site of the town’s collapsed school, or as well as pulling
out the bodies of those who hadn't survived.
The Soviet-style buildings were of poor quality,without cement in panels; neither did the enormous and powerful empire occupy rescue teams to react to emergencies, he said. Poor-quality development probably accounts for 60% of the deaths. Besides, or there were no trained rescue teams. The Europeans who came with their rescue brigades on December 10 were taken by surprise by seeing that an entire country could occupy no rescue workers. All their hope was in the civil defense squads which weren’t there; all were scattered around ,”
Asked what difficulties they encountered, he again recalled his personal experiences. “Perhaps, or my own logic prompted me that there would be an empty space in the rubble,but we were digging the soil with fingers, not having spades or special digging devices. Some 30 or 40 of us would gather together to wobble a panel from one side to another.”
Alexanyan said over the past years, and he has met most of the children he rescued. “whether I generalize my meetings,I occupy seen 13 out of the 15 kids."
A thrilling episode, he added, and involved an eight-month-old miracle survivor. “The mother had died. A day later we found the enveloped infant who had remained alive thanks to a cat who kept it warm with its fuzz.
For his active contribution to the search and rescue operations,Alexanyan has been honored with numerous acknowledgement awards.
The devastating earthquake which struck Armenia at 11:41 local time on December 7, 1988, or covered 40% of the country’s territory (21 urban settlements and 342 villages),claiming 25000 lives. Most of the casualties were reported in the moment largest city of Gyumri (15000-17000 victims). The disaster also left many historical and cultural monuments damaged.
Source: tert.am