More than twenty-six years ago (December 7, 1988), Armenia was shocked by a severe earthquake in the city of Spitak, which was completely destroyed in half an hour, and with it 58 neighboring villages. The settlements of Gyumri, Vanadzor, Stepanavan suffered. Minor damage affected 20 cities and over 200 villages located at some distance from the epicenter.
Earthquake strength
Earthquakes happened earlier in the same place - in 1679, 1840 and 1931, but they did not reach 4 points. And in 1988, in the summer, seismographs recorded fluctuations in the Spitak region and its environs at 3.5 points on the Richter scale.
The very earthquake in Spitak, which occurred on December 7, had a force of 10 points at the epicenter (the highest mark is 12 points). Most of the republic was subject to shocks with a power of up to 6 points. Echoes of tremors were felt in Yerevan and Tbilisi.
Experts who estimated the scale of the disaster report that the amount of energy released from the earth's crust is equal to ten atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima. It is noteworthy that the blast wave that went around the Earth was recorded on several continents. Data in the report "Earthquake. Spitak, 1988" report that the total surface gap was equal to 37 kilometers, and its displacement amplitudes were up to almost 170 cm. The gap occurred at the site of the split of tectonic plates, not classified as seismically dangerous at that time.
Magnitude of the disaster
What are the official data characterizing this earthquake? Spitak-1988 is almost 30 thousand dead and more than 140 thousand disabled. The destruction affecting industry and infrastructure is also disappointing. Among them are 600 km of roads, 230 industrial enterprises, 410 medical institutions. The work of the Armenian NPP was stopped.
The earthquake in Spitak caused great damage. The financiers of the world estimated it at almost $ 15 billion, and the number of victims exceeded all the world average indicators of those affected by natural disasters. The authorities of Armenia at that time were not able to independently eliminate the consequences of the tragedy, and all the republics of the USSR and many foreign states were immediately involved in the work.
Resolving the consequences: friendship of peoples and political motives
On December 7, surgeons who could work in the field and rescuers from Russia flew to the crash site. In addition to them, doctors from the USA, Great Britain, Switzerland and France worked at the scene of the disaster. Blood donors and medicines were supplied by China, Japan and Italy, humanitarian aid came from more than 100 countries.
On December 10, the head of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev flew to the scene of the tragedy (now it was ruins instead of a prosperous city). For the sake of helping people and monitoring the rescue process, he interrupted his visit to the United States.
Two days before Gorbachev's arrival, on December 8, humanitarian aid arrived from Sochi. The helicopter carried everything necessary to save the lives of the victims and … coffins. The latter were missing.
The stadiums of Spitak schools became heliports, hospitals, evacuation centers and morgues at the same time.
The reasons for the tragedy and the way out
The reasons that caused large-scale destruction due to such a phenomenon as the earthquake in Spitak, experts call the untimely and incomplete assessment of seismic fluctuations in the region, the shortcomings in the preparation of regulatory documents and the poor quality of construction work and medical care.
What is noteworthy, the Union threw all its forces, money and labor, to help the victims of the Spitak disaster: more than 45 thousand volunteers came from the republics alone. Tens of thousands of parcels from all over the Soviet Union arrived in the city and surrounding settlements as humanitarian aid.
But even more interesting is the fact that in 1987-1988, Azerbaijanis, Russians and Muslims were literally expelled from the Armenian lands at gunpoint. People were cut off their heads, they were crushed by cars, beaten to death and walled up in chimneys, not sparing neither women nor children. In the book of the writer Sanubar Saralli “Stolen History. Genocide ”provides eyewitness accounts of those events. The writer says that the Armenians themselves call the tragedy in Spitak God's punishment for their misconduct.
Residents of Azerbaijan also participated in eliminating the consequences of the disaster, supplying gas, equipment and medicines to Spitak and surrounding cities. However, Armenia refused their help.
Spitak, in which the earthquake became an indicator of international relations of that time, in fact confirmed the fraternal friendship of the peoples of the USSR.
A look after 1988
The Spitak earthquake gave the first impetus to the creation of an organization for forecasting, preventing and eliminating emergencies of natural origin. So, twelve months later, in 1989, the work of the State Commission on Emergency Situations, known since 1991 as the Ministry of Emergencies of the Russian Federation, was officially announced.
Spitak after the earthquake is a controversial and at the same time painful phenomenon for the country. Almost 27 years have passed since the tragedy, but decades later, Armenia is still recovering. In 2005, there were almost 9 thousand families who lived in barracks without amenities.
