There are scores of families left homeless by the 1988 earthquake in Armenia who have been living in makeshift housing for the past 25 years.
The following video shows how Hayk and Margarita Ohanyan are surviving with their seven young children on the outskirts of Gyumri. The parents do not work and survive on social assistance from the government. The fuel they burn during the winter months comes from a local garbage dump.
Newly elected Gyumri Mayor Samvel Balasanyan continues to make unannounced visits to homeless families that have appeared in videos shot by the Shirak Center, a non-profit NGO which works towards resolving a host of immediate social and political problems in the provinces of Armenian.
This story deals with one such family they came across living in the neighborhood of Ani. Gayaneh Gevorgyan, along with her two small children and parents, survive on 16,000 AMD ($40) of social assistance every three months. Gayaneh’s mother works and gets a meagre salary as well.
She and her kids were born in the dormitory belonging to the former Lentextile Combine in Gyumri that was damaged in the 1988 earthquake.
Videos
Photos
