Switzerland helps Armenia with flood damage
Heavy rainfall has caused severe flooding in northern Armenia and cost numerous lives. Switzerland dispatched a team of seven engineers from the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit to the region on Monday evening.
Experts are helping the authorities to check the stability of bridges and other infrastructure. The damage in the area is considerable, as the foreign ministry announced on Tuesday.
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The heavy rainfall in northern Armenia has cost lives in some places and caused considerable damage. More than 400 people had to be evacuated. Numerous infrastructures, especially roads and bridges as well as gas and water pipes, were damaged or destroyed. In some villages, buildings collapsed and the mud and water masses rose to almost two metres, the foreign ministry wrote.
In view of the scale of the disaster, the Armenian authorities requested assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), in particular from civil engineering experts. Switzerland has its assistance.
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is now sending members of the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA).
According to the foreign ministry, team of seven engineering and structural specialists flew to Armenia on Monday evening.
+Urban flooding slowly becomes a priority issue for Switzerland
The SDC is already deployed in Armenia and the South Caucasus. It is now making up to CHF500,000 ($558,441) available to provide emergency aid in the affected areas, which are among the most disadvantaged regions in the country.
Switzerland is also monitoring the flood situation in Europe and in neighboring countries in particular. It is ready to provide assistance in the countries requesting support.
In addition to the floods, the North Caucasus republic continues to suffer from the consequences of the lost war against Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in 2023. Almost the entire ethnic Armenian population of 120,000 people fled from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.
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Adapted from German by DeepL/amva
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