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‘Living Under Lake Sevan’: 11 Member Family Tries to Stay Dry and Healthy in Karakert Village Apartment

By Ani Gevorgyan

Ten of the twelve apartments located at 42 Shiraz Street in Karakert, a village in Armenia’s Armavir Province, are empty. 

Only two families reside in the building.

Gayaneh Tonoyan is the mother of one of the two families remaining.

“The ceiling is completely wet. The stones are falling. All of us get sick from the dampness. It’s as if we are living under Lake Sevan,” says Tonoyan about the family of eleven.

The building is dilapidated and dangerous.

Gayaneh Tonoyan says one of her daughters-in-law contracted pneumonia from the dampness. “We barely managed to treat her. Now, she’s pregnant and the illness has resurfaced.”

The family has tried every trick to reinforce the ceiling.

In one of the rooms, the family has affixed pieces of wood to stop the rain.

The Tonoyan family grandchildren also fall ill due to conditions inside the apartment.

The village municipality recently reinforced the building’s roof. However, water continues to pour down into the Tonoyan’s first floorapartment in the three-story building.

Mrs. Tonoyan – “One day, the walls can collapse on us while we’re sleeping.” 

“We don’t feel comfortable asking for help. This is how we live.”

Yuri Tonoyan, the father, is the family’s only breadwinner.

He fought in the 1990s Artsakh War. “When fighting broke out in April, I went to volunteer. They told me to go back home. That I was too old and not in good health. In these conditions, what health can I have?”

Ten of the twelve apartments located at 42 Shiraz Street in Karakert, a village in Armenia’s Armavir Province, are empty.

 

Only two families reside in the building.

 

Gayaneh Tonoyan is the mother of one of the two families remaining.

 

“The ceiling is completely wet. The stones are falling. All of us get sick from the dampness. It’s as if we are living under Lake Sevan,” says Tonoyan about the family of eleven.

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