Family leaves in half collapsed building
The house belonging to Yerevan resident Garegin Hakobyan is on the verge of collapse. The house covering an area of 100 square meters is situated in the centre of Yerevan, at 4 Avag Petrosyan. In 2011, the family was offered to choose between the building and money.
Garegin Hakobyan said they would leave the building on condition that they received an adequate amount of compensation for it.
The family has been living there since 1945. Most of their neighbours left their homes long ago in the hope that one day they would receive new flats in the new high-rise building to be constructed in the area by Avagshin Company. Today these families are living in rented apartments, but Hakobyans have nowhere to go.
"The building is already collapsing, cracks have appeared in the walls, we are already afraid to live here," says Anush Simonyan, the mother of the family.
For his part, Garegin Hakobyan added that the cracks emerged in the result of the construction in the neighborhood. He spoke to the constructors about the damage. "I invited them to our house to see the cracks. But I have received no reply. Recently, they showed up several times to warn that they are demolishing [by a bulldozer] a neighboring house and we had better leave the building," he said.
The family has addressed numerous letters to the country's president, prime minister and Yerevan Mayor. "Every time, we received the same answer. Today I phoned them to learn that the issue is under consideration and will be settled within 30 days. Only God knows what might happen to our house in 30 days," he said.
