Wednesday, 20 October 2004
Today RA Prime Minister A. Margaryan has received the delegation of the participants to the 5th assembly of the Asian Seismological Commission (ASC) held in Yerevan in October 18-21 on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Spitak earthquake. The delegation was headed by Serguey Balasanyan, President of the Armenian Seismology and Geophysics Association.
By welcoming the members of the delegation, the Prime Minister noted that the Armenian government appreciated very much the idea of holding such an international forum in our country, which is located in a highly seismic zone. He stressed that based on the importance given to in-depth and comprehensive discussions of issues relating to seismic security, the government of the Republic of Armenia had organized this event in collaboration with the UN, OSCE and other international organizations.
In thanking the Armenian government and Mr. A. Margaryan for assistance, the members of the delegation advised the latter that the 5th assembly, attended by nearly 270 seismologists from 51 countries of the world, was going ahead with success. In briefing the Prime Minister on its goals and objectives, Mr. Balasanyan said it was quite natural to hold this event in Armenia which, in its capacity of a seismic emergency prevention policy making country, had been recognized internationally as a leading entity in this sphere. According to him, the Armenian system of seismic protection, which had been developed over the past decade, was recognized by the UN as a model concept for the 21st century and recommended for use in countries with limited resources. He also noted that very active and interesting discussions were held over issues with relation to seismic security, earthquake forecast, prevention and minimization of their consequences, public awareness raising endeavors, as well as concerning the application to this end of up-to-date scientific methods and technologies, experience sharing and many other issues.
Mr. A. Margaryan has answered the questions of interest to the members of the delegation and heard their suggestions. He expressed the hope that the theoretical questions and problems under discussion would find a practical application by contributing to the minimization of seismic hazard in the South Caucasian region and the world as a whole. The head of the government assured his guests that both the Armenian seismic experts and public agencies would keep on assisting the worldwide efforts aimed at addressing the seismic risk. In closing, the Prime Minister wished the participants successful completion of this event.
