The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia is going to re-operate a seismic activity detecting device in Garni observatory, which has been out of use for over 20 years to register shifts of the earth crust, Minister of Emergency Situations Armen Yeritsyan said.

The device has been out of use for over 20 years, and the recent earthquakes in the republic’s territory makes its launch necessary now, Yeritsyan said in the press center of the Armenian government on February 16. “During Spitak earthquake in 1988 the device registered the change of the earth crust but specialists thought it was out of order because it was little used at the time,” the Minister said.

Garni observatory is located at a depth of 60 meters, and the device is put at a depth of 360 meters underground, Armen Yeritsyan said.

Speaking at the government session, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan gave instructions on establishing a working group with involvement of experts from the National Academy of Sciences to implement the launch.