While that shock may have been related to the Pambak-Sevan fault, the October 22, 1926 Leninakan earthquake to the west of the 1988 event also had a maximum intensity of MSK VIII. Buildings that didn’t collapse featured well-maintained masonry and skeletal components that were joined together adequately in a way that allowed for the building to resistseismic waves. Numerous sand boils were seen in the region northwest of Spitak including within 15 meters (49 ft) of the failed embankment. Uneven distribution of the seismic energy may have also contributed to the fluctuation in damage. Boris Karapetyan, director of earthquake studies at the Yerevan Polytechnical Institute, said of the difficult rebuilding process “Coordination is a major, major problem. On the east end the events were shallow while the western side, where the majority of the larger aftershocks were concentrated, the hypocenters were up to 14 km (8.7 mi) deep. Half of those funds were from World Vision International, a California-based relief and development umbrella organization, and the other half were his own personal donation. Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca arranged for a fund drive, and in Chicago (one of five major Armenian population centers in the US) the community raised $800,000 and donated 9,000 kilograms (20,000 lb) of supplies. 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. A total of 189 such individuals were identified through neighbourhood polyclinics in the city of Leninakan and 159 noninjured controls were selected from the same neighbourhoods. Armenian Earthquake Memorial at the Red Cross Bldg in Washington, D.C. Health ministerYevgeniy Chazov urged the creation of a governmental body to assist with disaster management. The diam eter of the affected area was about 50 miles, which covered a densely populated section of the country. The Americans donated generously as well, with Washington dispatching eight official planeloads of official relief aid plus a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter from Italy. The 1988 M s ≈ 6.8 earthquake in Armenia resulted in more than 40,000 human casualties and massive destruction of the northwestern region of Armenia. 1988 Armenian earthquake. the extent of human damage that was sus tained. This paper examines the geographical components of the damage and the Noji,2 &A.P. Both Leninakan and Kirovakan were roughly equidistant from the shock, yet Leninakan had greater damage. The first site was on the highway that linked the three most damaged cities and was adjacent to a tributary of the Pambak river where the water table was close to the surface. Aznavour, together with Armenian-French composer Georges Garvarentz, formed a foundation called "Aznavour for Armenia" and composed the song as a call for help for the Armenians. Damage Bruce Bolt, a seismologist and a professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, walked the length of the fault scarp in 1992 and found that the vertical displacement measured 1 m (3.3 ft) along most of the length with the southwest end reaching 1.6 m (5.2 ft). As a result, the region has been plagued by sever earthquakes for thousands of years: an earthquake in 893 A.D. took an estimated 20,000 lives; another in 1667 took 80,000 lives. At 11.41 am on December 7th 1988 an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter Scale struck the Soviet Republic of Armenia. Uneven distribution of the seismic energy may have also contributed to the fluctuation in damage. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Witness speaks to … The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake (Սպիտակի երկրաշարժ Spitaki yerkrašarž), 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). Armenian,1 E.K. Those who were killed on the plane were planning to join an estimated 20,000 soldiers and 85,000 civil defence workers in rescue efforts by searching for survivors, supplying food and water, and setting up sanitation facilities in the region. The Soviets and an American group of architects each devised separate outlines for rebuilding the town of Spitak. This may be explained by a 300–400 m (980–1,310 ft) sedimentary layerthat is present beneath the city. 1988: Death toll rises in Armenian earthquake. The most active onshore fault systems are the 674 kilometres (419 mi) Bucaramanga-Santa Marta Fault with earthquakes frequently occurring at the Bucaramanga Nest around Aratoca, Santander, the 697.4 kilometres (433.3 mi) Romeral Fault System in the Central Ranges (Popayán 1983 and Armenia 1999) and the 921.4 kilometres (572.5 mi) long Eastern Frontal Fault System in the Eastern Ranges. At that time 20 projects had completed the planning process and some had been approved and construction started. ( Log Out / In Armenia, MSF launched its first functional rehabilitation and limb-reconstruction projects (following the devastating wounds caused by the 1988 earthquake), it carried out advanced surgery and vital research on multi-drug resistant TB and hepatitis C. A number of the smaller outlying villages away from the larger population centers were also severely affected. Nuclear blast The engineers who scrutinized the damaged buildings and the rescue workers who had dismantled the buildings while extricating survivors ascribe both design shortcomings and improper construction methods for the failure of the buildings. 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. 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, but private donations and assistance from non-governmental organizations also had a large part of the international effort. A monument, Armenian Earthquake, expressing the appreciation of the Armenian people for assistance from the U.S. was erected in Washington, D.C. in 1990. They sustained themselves on the food supplies — fruit salad, pickles, and smoked ham — that were available in the basement for 35 days before their rescue in January. Armenia News - … Many case histories pertaining toliquefaction in sandy soil exist, but few exist with respect to gravel and gravelly sands. The earthquake’s effects were assessed at ten on that seismic scale. Moving westward closer to the central segments though, a transition of the fault type was becoming apparent, where an almost equal distribution of reverse fault mechanisms were observed as the strike-slip type. Baxter International, an American health care company with headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois, designed and built a flying medical lab set up with 20 dialysis machines to be used with victims suffering from crush syndrome (trauma associated with building collapses), but were unable to get started for four days until the visas were available. Some of the strongest shaking occurred in industrial areas with chemical and food processing plants, electrical substations, and power plants. A song was produced by a duo of French composers (including Charles Aznavour) and a studio album that featured songs donated by mainstream rock bands was released from the Rock Aid Armeniaeffort by the British music industry. Numerous sand boils were seen in the region northwest of Spitak including within 15 m (49 ft) of the failed embankment. Beginning with late 1987 the Caucasus region was experiencing a surge in political turmoil with large and near constant demonstrations being held in the capital of Yerevan beginning in February 1988. While on site during aftershock monitoring, the US research team verified the presence of soil amplification effects when pronounced difference in readings were observed when compared with nearby rock sites. Buildings and other structures were extensively damaged during the earthquake, but roadways and railways also experienced disturbances. Most of those funds went into the initial relief work and medical care plus the beginning portion of the rebuilding phase. [26], The instrumentation included ten smoked paper analog seismometers that were configured to allow for 48 hours of continuous single-component data recording. The massive earthquake that struck Armenia on December 7, 1988 at 11:41am measured 7.1 on the Richter Scale. Today is the day of remembrance of the 1988 earthquake … Mikhail Gorbachev with Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Wreath laid in memory of 1988 earthquake victims on behalf of Armenia 2nd President . The source of the event was a fault rupture 40 kilometers (25 mi) south of the Caucasus Mountains, a mountain range that has been produced by the convergence of the Arabian and the Eurasian tectonic plates. This paper examines the … Nine crew and 69 military personnel were on board the plane that struck a helicopter in foggy conditions at the small airport that was overrun with rescue flights. [9] With the hospitals destroyed, and their limited knowledge of the care requirements, the Soviets were not well-equipped to deal with the cases of crush syndrome. The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake (Armenian: Սպիտակի երկրաշարժ Spitaki yerkrašarž) occurred in the northern region of Armenia (then part of the Soviet Union) on Wednesday, December 7, 1988 at 11:41 local time (07:41 UTC). The negative effect the earthquake had on the economy of Armenia was apparent. Liquefaction Leninakan earthquake in the Armenian region of Spitak 1988 by DiFilm. This year we commemorate our thousands of compatriots, […] The Holy Saviour Church in Gyumriafter the earthquake It had to do with the 8.2 earthquake that struck Armenia back in 1989 when the country was flattened, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. Although not the strongest, this was the largest earthquake to hit Armenia. Eknoyan G(1). Despite 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 World War II. Half of those funds were from World Vision International, a California-based relief and development umbrella organization, and the other half were his own personal donation. Author information: (1)Renal Section, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA. The daily newspaper Sotsialisticheskaya Industriya noted that there were families living out in the open even while there were an abundance of tents available. A song was produced by a duo of French composers (including Charles Aznavour) and a studio album that featured songs donated by mainstream rock bands was released from the Rock Aid Armenia effort by the British music industry. "[18], Many buildings did not hold up to the shaking of the earthquake and those that did collapse often lacked any survival space, but lack of effective medical care and poor planning also contributed to the substantial scope of the disaster. As of July 1989 about $500 million in donations had been delivered to the Armenians from 113 countries. In the final month of 1988, Armenia was struck by an earthquake that absolutely devastated the northern region of the country and displaced hundreds of thousands of people, throwing many into housing insecurity that's lasted over 30 years. It took six weeks from the creation of the song to completion of the disc and with almost two million copies sold, the foundation was able to build 47 schools and three orphanages for the victims of the disaster. [19], The Soviet news media and government officials soon began to discuss the apparent substandard construction styles that had caused so many of Armenia's buildings to collapse. We need foreign assistance–and there is no doubt about that–but our friends do not know the local conditions and propose things that cannot or should not be built in an earthquake-prone region.” The Soviets had modified their construction style to accommodate the known seismic risk in the area, but they acknowledged to the team that many of the buildings were not built to withstand an earthquake of that magnitude. Along the western segments the fault split into two branches with one to the southwest and the other to the northwest. Their injuries were minor, but one person did suffer a broken arm. Then-Armenian Assembly Board Chairman Hirair Hovnanian leading a delegation bringing humanitarian relief to Armenia after the 1988 earthquake WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the 30th Anniversary of the Spitak Earthquake, the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) remembers the thousands of lives lost and villages destroyed after a massive earthquake, registering 6.9 on the Richter Scale, struck… Gorbachevcut short his trip to fly back to Moscow. 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). For the fifteen months prior to the earthquake and at times up to hundreds of thousands of protesters, represented by the Karabakh Committee, were demanding both democracy and the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh (administered by Soviet Azerbaijan but disputed autonomous territory with an 80% Armenian majority and the Azerbaijani minority) in the mountains of the Karabakh region. The shocks at the southeastern segment indicated right-lateral strike-slipmovement along a nearly vertical fault, and may have been related to the Alavar fault. Author and professor of geopolitics Pierre Verluise detailed in his 1995 book Armenia in Crisis: The 1988 Earthquake, how a French doctor and director of a Leninakan hospital described that he had seen one hundred victims suffering from the syndrome each day during the first three days. Most collapsed, killing two-thirds of the doctors, destroying equipment and medicine, and reducing the capacity to handle the critical medical needs in the region. Gorbachev, in a TV interview several weeks after his expedited return from New York City, said that the concrete blocks had been built with more than enough sand but too little concrete, and suggested that the concrete had been stolen. A standardized interview questionnaire was used. Yuri S. Mkhitarian, an Armenian State Building Committee official, gave an updated damage report that included some of the outlying communities away from the population centers stating that 342 villages were damaged and another 58 were destroyed. ", "Deaths and Injuries due to the Earthquake in Armenia – A Cohort Approach", "Lessons and questions emerge from Armenian quake", "Armenia's Metsamor NPP, Built Near Fault Line, Gets 10 Year Life Extension", "Armenia's Nuclear Risk; Antiquated Power Station to Be Reopened Despite Wide Concerns About Safety", "USGS Earthquake Hazards Program: Earthquake Facts and Statistics Graphs", "Earthquake Hazards Program: Largest and Deadliest Earthquakes by Year", "All the deadliest and strongest earthquakes since 1900, including coordinates", "6 Found Alive in Armenia 35 Days After Quake", "Fake News, Soviet-Style: The Armenian Earthquake Rescue That Was Too Good To Be True", "Russia 'Concerned' About Armenian Protests Of Foreign-Language Schools", "Soviet Relief Plane Crashes, Killing 78", "Yugoslav Pilots Blamed in Crash of Quake Relief Plane", "Story of Charles Aznavour's "For you Armenia, "Soviet Union: When the Earth Shook – A killer quake devastates Armenia, and the West responds with unprecedented aid", "Faucets, Not Hospitals : Armenia Aid Gets Back to the Basics", "In Armenia, Revival the American Way; U.S. Architects Plan an Earthquake-Resistant Spitak", "Out of Earthquake's Rubble Rises Soviet-U.S. Teamwork", "The Spitak (Armenia) earthquake of 7 December 1988: field observations, seismology and tectonics", "Geometry, segmentation and stress regime of the Spitak (Armenia) earthquake from the analysis of the aftershock sequence", "Earthquake of 7 December 1988, Spitak, Armenia report of the NZNSEE team visit of 1989", Earthquake Damage, the Armenian SSR, December 7, 1988, On this day – 1988: Death toll rises in Armenian earthquake, Rescue efforts underway after earthquake strikes the Soviet republic of Armenia. 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