![]() Private donations and assistance from non-governmental organizations also had a large part of the international effort. One hundred and thirteen countries sent substantial amounts of humanitarian aid to the Soviet Union in the form of rescue equipment, search teams and medical supplies. A number of the smaller outlying villages away from the larger population centers were also severely affected.ĭespite the tensions of the Cold War, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev formally asked the United States for humanitarian help within a few days of the earthquake, the first such request since the late 1940s. The cities of Spitak, Leninakan ( Gyumri) and Kirovakan ( Vanadzor) were greatly affected with large losses of life and devastating effects to buildings and other structures. Earthquake engineering experts scrutinized building construction styles and found fault in the poorly constructed apartments and other buildings that were built during the Era of Stagnation under the rule of Leonid Brezhnev. Seismologists thoroughly studied the effects of the Spitak event, including the mainshock and aftershock fault rupture mechanisms, and were on site setting up temporary seismometers before the end of 1988. Between 25,000 and 50,000 were killed and up to 130,000 were injured. The complex incident ruptured multiple faults, with a strike-slip event occurring shortly after the initiation of the mainshock. Activity in the area is associated with tectonic plate boundary interaction and the source of the event was slip on a thrust fault just to the north of Spitak. The shock occurred in the northern region of Armenia (then Armenian SSR, as part of the Soviet Union) which is vulnerable to large and destructive earthquakes and is part of a larger active seismic belt that stretches from the Alps to the Himalayas. ![]() The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake ( Armenian: Սպիտակի երկրաշարժ, Spitaki yerkrasharj), occurred on December 7 at 11:41 local time with a surface wave magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum MSK intensity of X ( Devastating). ![]() Nalband, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union (present-day Shirakamut, Lori Province, Armenia) ģ8,000 dead (2017 estimate) 31,000 –130,000 injured Lua error in a at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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