MANILA, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Monday said it has approved a loan of 66.1 million euros (72.3 million U.S. dollars) as additional financing to support Armenia in building earthquake-resilient schools and strengthening its capacity for seismic disaster risk management.
"Armenia is located in a seismically active region and is prone to earthquakes that can cause significant human suffering and economic losses," said ADB Senior Project Officer in Armenia Gohar Mousaelyan.
In September 2015, the Manila-based bank approved an 88.5-million-dollar loan for the Seismic Safety Improvement Program to reconstruct and retrofit 46 schools in Armenia to meet internationally accepted seismic safety standards.
Since 2020, Armenia has experienced 14 earthquakes of magnitude 5 and above, as well as more than 2,700 earthquakes of magnitude less than 5, the bank said, noting that the country has about 1,400 schools, and around 431 of them require strengthening and reconstruction at an estimated cost of 1.7 billion dollars.
