Soviet Quake Survivors to Get Holiday Treats

Soviet authorities are planning Christmas and New Year’s celebrations in Leninakan to help earthquake survivors recover from depression over the loss of their families and homes, Tass said Tuesday.

“People’s moods continue to be very depressed,” the official Soviet news agency said. “They have witnessed so much suffering and have lived through so many personal tragedies.”

“Christmas-tree holidays will be organized for them and New Year presents will be given,” Boris Y. Shcherbina, deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers and a member of the commission directing earthquake relief, told Tass.

Officials estimate that 55,000 people died in the Dec. 7 earthquake in the Armenian republic.

In attempt to alleviate the pain and restore a sense of normality, authorities have restored radio and television broadcasting in the area, and schools will soon reopen for the 10,000 children still in Leninakan, Tass said. Some factories are also reopening, it said.

A snowstorm Sunday night, combined with continuing problems with transport into the disaster area, are hampering food deliveries into the cities of Spitak, Leninakan and dozens of stricken villages, the newspaper Izvestia said Tuesday.

The recovery of bodies is nearing an end, with an estimated 400 remaining to be pulled out, Shcherbina told Tass. Rescuers found 8,000 survivors under the rubble in Leninakan and 10,800 corpses, he said.

Armenian authorities have collected the names of 70,000 people being sought by relatives after the earthquake, Tass said.