YEREVAN. – The current law allowed the system to evolve, but new approaches emerged over the years that led to the development of the new bill. Rescue service officer Hamlet Matevosyan, who is Rector of the Crisis Management State Academy of Armenia, said this today at the sitting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Defense and Security, during the discussion of the draft Law on Disaster Risk Management and Population Protection.

According to Matevosyan, the current law is called the Law on Protection of Population in Emergency Situations, and it contains sections on preventive measures, as well as precautionary measures and rapid response.

"The new bill focuses on three areas: disaster risk reduction, quick recovery in emergencies, as well as carrying out recovery work," Hamlet Matevosyan explained. “There is also an important point in the bill; it's about declaring a state of emergency; we see that there is a demand for such a need today. (...). This legislative initiative, in essence, defines the essence of a state of emergency."