A former hot-spot for cakes and coffee, this building is now a temporary shelter for 77-year-old ChichakPetrosyan and his 12-year-old granddaughter Sosi, who attends school whenever she has clothes and shoes to wear.

In 1988 a devastating earthquake hit Armenia, destroying homes and infrastructure, killing more than 25,000 people, and leaving half a million homeless. Almost three decades later, the small country in the heart of the Caucasus region is still struggling to come to terms with the disaster.

A look at the shanties — temporary shelters — constructed from scrap metal and scavenged material in the Savoyan district.

Gyumri, the country’s second-largest city, bore much of the damage. Though new districts have sprung up from the rubble over the past 25 years, the Shirak region, of which Gyumri is the capital, harbors the highest poverty rates in the country. And despite efforts to rebuild the area, more than 4,000 people still live in temporary shelters—their lives suspended indefinitely.

Savoyan is one of the 95 domik—temporary shelters—in Gyumri, created after the 1988 earthquake. Here, residents live in shanties, constructed from scrap metal and other scavenged material. Many of these families live on as little as 18,000 drams (or USD 50) a month, which means that even children have to work—often at the expense of their education.

Above and below: Chichak’s cafe cum home

Arev Davtyan’s 3-year-old son.

Dogs and cats sleep with the kids to keep rats away.

While labour market analysis from 2014 shows that adolescents aged 15-19 years comprised 1.2 percent of the workforce, in reality teen employment rates are severely underreported. As unskilled laborers, children find odd jobs washing cars, carrying groceries and produce at the local markets, working in the fields, or earning 1,000 drams (about USD 2.50) a day for opening and closing mini-bus doors. While many families rely on the extra income, children who are forced to work are deprived of their right to an education.Caption: Dogs and cats sleep with the kids to keep rats away.

Arev Davtyan: 6-year-old daughter in her flower shop cum home.

Arev Davtyan

26-year-old Arev Davtyan lives in the ‘flower shop’ where flowers were sold during Soviet times. Now the walls of this flower shop are made out of glass and cardboard. Dogs and cats sleep with her 6-year-old daughter and her 3-year-old son to prevent rats from gnawing the children’s ears or noses.

Armine Davtyan with her younger daughter, Marianna.

Chichak Petrosyan is 77 and lives with her 28-year-old daughter, Armine Davtyan, her son-in-law, who suffers from a mental disability, and her two grandchildren—Sosi, 12, and Marianna, 4. The family lives in the neighboring ‘cafe’. Before the earthquake, coffee and home-made pastries were served here; today it is a shelter to five people living on an income of 65,000 dram (USD 155). Twelve-year-old Sosi attends school whenever she has clothes and shoes to wear.

Chichak Petrosyan

Two of Geghetsik Yenokyan’s three grandchildren—another family living in extreme conditions.

Farther down the road is 72-year-old Geghetsik Yenokyan’s domik. After her son’s death, her daughter-in-law left home and she is the one looking after her three grandchildren between the ages of 9 and 12. She supports her family on her meagre pension and social benefits amounting to 40,000 drams ($100).

Leading in extreme poverty in temporary shelters, the children of these three families are deprived of their rights to education, healthcare and often a future.

The Savoyan disrict is one of the 95 domik districts created after the earthquake.