Emergency Minister speaks about works conducted in quake-affected area

 “Some 21, 000 houses and social facilities were inspected in the quake-affected area. 2944 of them were considered as seriously damaged and will be reconstructed. At least 3500 houses will be repaired”, Minister of Emergency Situations of Azerbaijan Kemaleddin Heydarov said.

According to the minister, 25 quake-damaged school buildings will be removed and new buildings will be constructed until the new school year. The houses will be reconstructed and repaired by the end of summer until the weather is getting cold.

Some newspapers said that the citizens were not satisfied with the evaluation of processes in the quake-affected area. Minister Heydarov made comments on these reports: “It is impossible, because the processes are evaluated by the commissions consisting of the experts of the ministries of Finance, Economic Development and Emergency Situations. Sometimes people demand to reconstruct even not so much damaged houses. We faced this situation in Sabirabad region as well during the Kur River floods. It is not correct. Most of the houses in the quake-affected area were built with clay bricks and were not strengthened. Such houses don’t sustain the quakes higher than 5-magnitude. We recommended the people in both quake- and flood-affected areas to observe these rules during the construction of their private houses.”

Heydarov noted that the seismological standards determined by the Ministry of Emergency Situations must be taken into consideration during the construction of public facilities and buildings. “Everybody should know these standards”, the minister said.

Heydarov said that most of the houses in flood-affected areas were built with clay bricks between the dams. “It is not correct to build houses between the dams. Some clay-brick houses are not destroyed by the floods, but later they collapse as a result of splits created by hot weather.”



/APA/