1988 Spitak earthquake

The Spitak earthquake struck northern Armenia, then part of the Soviet Union, and destroyed the town of Spitak and much of the cities of Leninakan, now Gyumri, and Kirovakan, now Vanadzor. It had a surface-wave magnitude of about 6.8 and was followed by a strong aftershock minutes later. Tens of thousands of people died, many of them in collapsed prefabricated apartment blocks and schools that had not been built to withstand strong shaking. The disaster brought an unusually large international relief effort, including teams from the United States, at a late stage of the Cold War. Rebuilding took years, and the shaken Metsamor nuclear power plant was shut down in 1989, though one reactor was later restarted.

Open on the timeline