Syunik agriculture has been hard hit by the recent unprecedented rains and hailstorms. Vasil Grigoryan, community leader of Nor Astghaberd, is flabbergasted by the response of the Syunik Regional Administration's Division of Emergency Situations.

"Can you picture it? They came all the way to the village and said there was no emergency since people weren't harmed," Mayor Grigoryan said, asking how else can one define an emergency when people's crops and gardens have been devastated. He noted that crop damage in Kapan amounts to 68,000 drams. According to figures provided by the Syunik RA's Division of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, crop damage in the Kapan and Meghri districts alone amounts to 27 million drams. Some villages have already reported their losses to the regional administration. The village of Kajaran has reported 1.8 million in damages; Tchakaten - 21,480, Geghi -2.4 million, Shvanidzor - 1.350 million. To date, the government hasn't paid out any compensation. In June, RoA Agricultural Minister Gerasim Alaverdyan toured the region and promised that the compensation question would be reviewed. Can one assume that the government will not address the compensation of recent inflicted damage as well? In any event, the Syunik RA has supplied the agricultural ministry with all the pertinent statistics.