On October 29, employees of the Population Protection and Disaster Risk Reduction Department of the MIA of RA Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Armenia organized and held a staff training on "Organization of measures of population protection in case of the collapse threat of Tsilkar reservoir dam in Tsaghkahovit community" in Aragatsotn province of the Republic of Armenia.

The training was attended by the the rescuers of the Population Protection and Disaster Risk Reduction and the Aragatsotn Regional Rescue Departments of the Rescue Service of the MIA of RA, the emloyees of Tsaghkahovit and Alagyazi community administrations, "Aragatsotn" Water Users Association, "Veolia Water", "Electric Networks of Armenia", "Gazprom Armenia", "Tsaghkahoviti MC" CJSC participated in the training. The administrative leaders of the affected communities and representatives of general education schools.

The purposes of the training were aimed at testing the action plan for the disaster risk management of Tsaghkahovit community in case of the collapse of the Tsilkar reservoir dam, increasing the resilience of communities, improving cooperation between all interested parties and increasing the preparedness of community structures.

The opening speech of the training was made by the Head of the Emergency Situations Planning Division of the Population Protection and Disaster Risk Reduction Department of the Rescue Service of the MIA of RA, r/s Colonel H.Hovhannisyan, the Deputy Head of the Aragatsotn Regional Rescue Department of the Rescue Service of the MIA of RA, r/s Lieutenant Colonel A. Shamiryan, the Head of Tsaghkahovit community N. Hakobyan and the Deputy Head Alagyaz community A. Grigoryan.

According to the scenario, the activities were carried out such as assessing the situation, implementing preventive measures, exchanging information, warning, collacting and giving the tasks to the members of the disaster risk management council, organizing meetings and discussions, warning the population in potential flooding zones, conducting evacuation measures, carrying out rescue and emergency recovery operations, organizing the life support of evacuated resident and addressing other training-related issues.

As a result of interactive discussions, the participants had the opportunity to ask questions and receive meaningful answers from the rescuers.

Summarizing the results, the Head of the Tsaghkahovit community and the Deputy Head of the Alagyaz community expressed their gratitudes to the organizers for holding the training at a high level, noting that the staff training was another way to promote the effectiveness of cooperation between all possible beneficiaries and target groups of the population protection system of the Tsaghkahovit community, as well as knowledge and operational skills development of the stakeholders in organization of population protection and raising awareness.