Vanadzor: No Electricity, Lack of Adequate Heating, and Bread Prices Doubled

The situation in Armenia's third-largest city, Vanadzor, is dire, reports local daily Haykakan Zhamanak. There is no gas in most parts of the city, electricity often shuts down, drinking water is frozen, schools have stopped classes, hospitals are admitting only patients with urgent problems, the maternity wards are cold, and there are problems with the bread supply.

Vanadzor residents told the newspaper's correspondent that after a gas pipe supplying gas to a part of the city exploded on Feb. 3, residents have been heating their homes with electrical energy, as a result of which the system became overloaded and soon shut down. Due to the interruption in the supply of electricity, the water supply soon stopped as well. Only after enormous efforts on the part of residents were they able to ensure a temperature of 10–12ºC in their homes.

The situation in hospitals and maternity centers is particularly dire. The cold weather is also a problem: at night the temperature drops to -25ºC, while in the day it doesn't go above 12–14ºC. 

The necessary amount of bread is not being produced. As a result of the bakery's incomplete work, bread costing 150 AMD is being sold at 300 AMD in the evening. People, panic-stricken, have begun to empty the shops.

The newspaper notes that the authorities till today have not taken any action at least in securing heating for hospitals.