With average winter temperatures of 14 degrees Fahrenheit, residents in Gyumri have to use small portable stoves to keep warm. An earthquake registering 6.9 on the Richter scale hit the northern part of the Armenian Republic of the So- viet Union at 11:41 a.m. on 7 December 1988. It also includes the geological and geophysical information collected during the years prior to the event, important for understanding the event. And unfortunately, without food or water and the increasingly cold weather of winter, the death toll climbed steadily despite the rescue efforts. The final number of people who died reached 25,000. According to official government reports, the number of deaths due to the earthquake was approximately 25,000. Since most of the buildings had high seismic vulnerability, the newspaper Pravda attributed the scale of the destruction to the poor quality standards of buildings madeduring Brezhnev's term, according to EVN Report. 1979 Morbi Damburst vs. 1988 Armenian earthquake -. A strike-slip component in the rupture meant that the blocks also moved laterally past each other, rather than just up or down. USSR OFFICIAL SOURCES INDICATE TENTATIVE DEATH TOLL OF EARTHQUAKE (WORST IN REGION SINCE 1046, ACCORDING TO SOVIET SEISMOLOGIST) AT 40 TO 45,000 PEOPLE. All images below are submissions to the World Bank/GFDRR "Building Disaster Resilience Across Armenia" photo contest, held 30 years after the 1988 Spitak Earthquake, and in tribute to the resilience of the Armenian people affected by this devastating event. The Spitak earthquake caused considerably destruction in Armenia and multiple deaths (according to official data, about 25 000). 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. At the same place and earlier there were earthquakes- in 1679, 1840 and 1931, but they did not reach 4 points. Many case histories pertaining to liquefaction in sandy soil exist, but few exist with respect to gravel and gravelly sands. The disaster has led to an unprecedented level of openness by the Soviet authorities as they struggle to cope with the devastation. On December 11th, a Soviet cargo jet crashed as it reached the Leninakan airport, resulting in the deaths of 78 people. 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. 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. A second site that was close to the fault, also near the Pambak river and with similar soil deposits, did not experience liquefaction, though it would have experienced the same high peak ground accelerations as the failed highway embankment. However, during this period, the skies were dangerously crowded with planes coming in to supply aid. By the time the Soviet Union collapsed, less than 20% of the lost housing had been rebuilt. Seismologists thoroughly studied the effects of the Spitak event, including the mainshock and aftershock fault rupture . Even Pope John Paul II donated $100,000. In several cases, relief teams ended up stuck in Moscow because officials simply didn't know where to send them. It took an earthquake to shake me out of yesterday's bout of self-pity. It arrived too late for emergency medical treatment." The daily newspaper Sotsialisticheskaya Industriya noted that there were families living out in the open even while there was an abundance of tents available. Hundreds of local medical workers were also injured and killed, and more than "500 medical institutions" were destroyed, making it extremely difficult to treat those who were injured and get first aid to the site on time. Of the estimated 20,000 residents some 4,500 were killed in the earthquake. On December 7, 1988 at 11:41 am local time (07:41 UTC/GMT), an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck the northern Armenia. The energy released in the . On December 11th, Gorbachev visited Leninakan to witness the damage and talk to survivors. A project by the Urban Institute, policy researchers, along with its partners, the Institute for Urban Economics in Moscow and the American University of Armenia, is underway to resolve this. Post-earthquake studies have revealed that roughly once every 50 years, Armenia can expect an earthquake exceeding VII on the Medvedev-Sponheuer-Karnik (MSK) scale, which evaluates the severity of ground shaking, somewhat similar to the Modified Mercalli scale, and suggested that building code standards should be improved. 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 the late 1940s. It was the strongest recorded earthquake in the Caucasus region in 1,000 years, the most destructive quake in the world since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in China, and one of the most lethal of the 20th century. Along with the collapse of the Trans-Caucasus electrical grid, Armenia was left with little-to-no heat and electricity for 1-2 hours a day, plunging Armenia into the "dark and cold years. [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. (OR) over 4.0 and 3.0, respectively. Crush syndrome occurs as a result of toxins being released by crushed muscle tissue. Spitak 2018 1 h 38 m IMDb RATING 5.8 /10 496 YOUR RATING Rate Action Drama Gor is trying to fly to Armenia from Moscow to search for his family stuck at the very epicentre of the earthquake. And with so many of the roads destroyed and blocked by rubble, by the time relief crews finally arrived, they were "too late to save many lives," per VAHS. [27], Buildings and other structures were extensively damaged during the earthquake, but roadways and railways also experienced disturbances. ", All of this resulted in a massive disruption of the reconstruction plans. The new plan would deviate from Soviet styles that were found to be rigid and outdated and would mirror characteristics of the local culture. He conveyed words of sympathy and support to all countrymen who lost . The negative effect the earthquake had on the economy of Armenia was apparent. 2008-2021. [9], American businessman and philanthropist Armand Hammer, well known to the Soviet Union for his financial pursuits and humanitarian ties, left Los Angeles for Armenia onboard a Boeing 727 loaded with 1,000kg (2,300lb) of medical supplies that were provided by the American Red Cross. Four minutes later, a magnitude 5.9 aftershock hit. What Really Happened With That Huge Earthquake In Armenia? "Boy in the Window" - a young boy outside a damaged home near Spitak, Armenia. International media reports noted criticism of the Soviet Union for its slow response and lack of preparedness. Although some people were rescued as long as 19 days after the earthquake, thousands succumbed to hypothermia in the freezing winter conditions. Surface ruptures caused by the main shock were observed up to 13 kilometers from the epicenter, with vertical displacement averaging 1 meter but reaching as much as 1.6 meters in places. Mental health studies have shown that many of the earthquake survivors still live with post-traumatic stress disorder. One of several reasons why so many buildings suffered so much damage is that the Soviet Union "had only one building code for the entire territory," regardless of whether or not the building was in a coastal or earthquake region. 1988 Armenian earthquake The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake ( Armenian: , 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 ). Over the last two weeks, the hearts of the American people have gone out to the people of Armenia as they grappled with the earthquake disaster and its aftermath, said President Reagan in a Dec. 22 speech in the White House. At the Yerevan airport, western pilots reported a breakdown in air traffic control communications, with flight controllers not delivering the necessary flight navigation instructions, allowing for a critical lack of separation as foreign planes made their way into the area. A quarter-century later, A.A. Nikonov (2003) generalized . Credit: USGS. 33 votes, 19 comments. The scale of the destruction has brought criticism the infrastructure was substandard, prompting Soviet authorities to pledge Spitak will be rebuilt with blocks no more than five storeys high. The quake, known as the Spitak earthquake, killed between 25,000 and 60,000 people, injured up to 130,000, and left more than 500,000 homeless. Many children ended up being sent to the United States for medical treatment, staying there during their recovery until going back to Armenia. Gorbachev informed his American counterpart Ronald Reagan about the disaster at his farewell lunch in Newark, NJ. According to Reuters, in 2008, the President Serzh Sarksyan pledged that rehousing and rebuilding the region would be complete by 2012, but the government keeps claiming delays due to "technical difficulties." On the morning of December 7th, it became clear that the previous quakes were merely foreshocks to the main quake, which hit at 11:41 AM local time, measuring a magnitude of 6.8-7.0. The economy of the region was also in shambles after the earthquake. However, weather conditions made air evacuations of victims incredibly difficult, as did damage to railways and roads. - list, stats and map. All the hospitals around Spitak were destroyed, and 80 percent of medical personnel were killed. PMID: 29513918 DOI: 10.1002/jts.22260 Abstract This population-based longitudinal study examined the rates and predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among 725 differentially exposed survivors of the 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia, 23 years after the event. Twenty-five thousand The earthquake in Spitak caused great damage. 3 years ago 4.2 magnitude, 10 km depth. The seismicity along this belt is marked by frequent major earthquakes from the Aegean Sea, through Turkey and Iran, and into Afghanistan. Twelve thousand families remain displaced as a result of the earthquake after new cities, started by Moscow in 1989, have remained half-built. For many years following World War II the Soviets practiced a methodical top-down approach to urban planning and building, constructing a large number of uniformly built row style apartment units, and the Soviets plan for rebuilding Spitak did not diverge from that approach. Factors positively associated with depression score included number of stressful life events (95% CI 0.33, 1.20), poor self-rated health (95% CI 2.45, 5.40), earthquake-related deaths in the family (95% CI 0.12, 3.80), and strong phobia and fear at baseline (95% CI 0.51, 2.96). Approximately two hundred aftershocks were recorded each day for the first several days of the expedition and at the end of the recording period in February the equipment was still picking up around 100 shocks per day. In 735 A.D., the Vayots Dzor Province was struck by an earthquake with aftershocks that lasted for 40 days. Here's what really happened with that huge earthquake in Armenia. 1988 Spitak Earthquake Database The 1988 Spitak Earthquake database is an extensive collection of geophysical and geological data, maps, charts, images and descriptive text pertaining to the catastrophic earthquake in Armenia. It was 11:41 a.m. when the first, more powerful, earthquake. The official communist party newspaper Pravda said that poor construction, like other issues of neglect in the Soviet system, could be blamed on the Era of Stagnation from the era of Leonid Brezhnev. Often, it took up to five hours to travel 46 miles in order to reach hospitals in Yerevan. The earthquakes affected an area 80 km in diameter. Meanwhile, Gorbachev's government tried to distract people by shifting the blame for the earthquake's destruction onto former leader Leonid Brezhnev rather than address its own shortcomings. Meanwhile, the first rescue teams didn't arrive until December 10, with chances of survival falling under 50% within six hours after an earthquake. 1988: Death toll rises in Armenian earthquake, 1961: Apartheid attacked at Nobel ceremony. Almost 90% of schools were also lost. Welcome to Size - Explorer The first FREE portal which is able to compare COVID-19 Virus stats, bombs, buildings, helicopters, airplanes, cities, countries, continents and planets in an userfriendly interface Are you ready? The Soviet Union also sent "500 of its best doctors" to Yerevan, per the AP. In 1988, the Spitak magnitude-6.9 earthquake in Armenia took more than 25,000 lives. The tapes were then played back and the P-wave and S-wave arrival times were used to automatically determine aftershock locations. He met with President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. This may be explained by a 300400m (9801,310ft) sedimentary layer that is present beneath the city. The total number of volunteer rescue personnel in Leninakan totalled 2,000, with teams from Austria, Canada, Switzerland, the United States, Poland and Yugoslavia. Between 25,000 and 50,000 were killed and up to 130,000 were injured. While most electrical substations were repaired within a week, electricity was not restored to many residences for months, according to a 1991 report by engineers for the Electric Power Research Institute. The city of Dvin was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 893 A.D., with casualties ranging from 30,000 to 70,000. The death toll in Gumri comprised 7% of the population and in Spitak 16%. Participants had been previously evaluated in 1991. Gorbachev was the last living Soviet leader following the death of Georgy Malenkov in 1988, and is the only one to have been born during the Soviet Union's existence. 514,000 people were left homeless. And in 1988 in the summer seismographs recorded fluctuations in the Spitak area and its environs at 3.5 points on the Richter scale. Most bridges and tunnels and other public infrastructure withstood the earthquake but hospitals did not fare well. The epicenter was in the city of Spitak and surrounding . The strength of the earthquake. WASHINGTON On December 7, 1988, after learning about the earthquake in Armenia, then leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev interrupted his visit to the United States to fly back to the USSR. Click here for all copyright requests. Based on the initial estimates by the local authorities, the death toll might be up to 50 000. The first well-documented case of liquefaction in gravelly sands was in regard to the 1983 Borah Peak earthquake in the United States. Armenian and international foundations have been primarily responsible for building over 20,000 apartments since 1988. The shock occurred in the northern region of Armenia (then 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 cities of Spitak, Leninakan (now Gyumri), Kirovakan (now Vanadzor) and Stepanavan, as well as hundreds of villages were totally or partially destroyed. The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute's team compared building damage in each city and observed similar results when comparing stone buildings four stories or less in height, but for taller frame-stone buildings, 62% were destroyed at Leninakan while only 23% collapsed at Kirovakan. The small city of Spitak was destroyed, while the nearby . Felt a quake? After a brief photo-op with President-elect George Bush Sr. and President Ronald Reagan, Gorbachov cut his trip short and flew back to Moscow. Crush syndrome, which occurs when damaged tissues release toxins and alter blood chemistry leading to renal failure, is a common cause of death in large earthquakes. Although there was a rumor that orphaned children were being given away to non-Armenian families, the rumor was never substantiated and likely came about due to misinformation and miscommunication. . 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 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake (Armenian: , 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). Soviet officials had claimed that restoration would be completed within two years. Thirty years ago this month, on Dec. 7, 1988, a magnitude-6.8 earthquake shook the northern region of the then-Soviet republic of Armenia. At least 25,000 people lost their lives in a tremor of moderate magnitude and the USSR suffered a loss of more than 2.5 per cent of 1988's GDP. Armenia is a small country about the size of Maryland that borders Turkey to the west, Iran to the south, Azerbaijan to the east and Georgia to the north. Among them there are 600 km of highways, 230 industrial enterprises, 410 medical institutions. Spitak Earthquake. Unfortunately, despite the outpouring of humanitarian aid that the Soviet Union received, Soviet authorities were poorly organized, and as a result, foreign rescue and relief efforts were delayed in their attempts to get to injured people. This was the first time the Soviet Union had accepted help from the U.S. government since World War II. The effects of the earthquake were absolutely devastating. read more, Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keywords, ["Distribution liability: NOAA and NCEI make no warranty, expressed or implied, regarding these data, nor does the fact of distribution constitute such a warranty. And according to "The Earthquake of Spitak, Armenia, and Its Socio-economic Implications," by the next year, with the fall of the Soviet Union, the goal of reconstruction by 1998 was once again postponed since the newly independent Armenia realized that it simply couldn't keep the reconstruction program on track. [9], A team of earthquake and engineering experts from the United States spent a period of time in Armenia in December 1988 and January 1989. The 1988 Spitak Earthquake database is an extensive collection of geophysical and geological data, maps, charts, images and descriptive text pertaining to the catastrophic earthquake in Armenia. The earthquake hit 40% of the territory of Armenia, densely populated regions with 1 million people. After the Armenian earthquake, thousands were given temporary shelters made of concrete blocks or old railway cars. https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/icons/spitaksm.gif, ["Produced by the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center. According to Nature, not many seismologists thought that an earthquake as severe as the Spitak earthquake "was possible in the region." The Soviet Union declared today a national day of mourning as the death toll rose and President Gorbachev toured the cities devastated by the earthquake. As a result, there were few seismic hazard studies done in the region. Following an invitation by the Soviets for a critique of their plan, the American proposal was ultimately accepted as the way forward. Another adverse effect of the disaster was that the Armenians were already distrustful of Gorbachev's dismissal of their claims to the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which the Armenians had been contesting with neighboring Azerbaijan. President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev was in New York City when he received a telegram from British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher describing what had happened and offering sympathy and aid. Credit: National Archives. I still can hear the sound that the ground made at that time. The soviet geophysicists detonated 100 kilograms of TNT in a hole drilled near the mainshock epicenter and the resulting shock waves were detected and used to help pinpoint a more accurate crustal velocity value of 5.3 to 5.4km/s. The Soviet's grid plan road scheme was found to not take into account the hillside at the new city's location, and the American plan included finer details of how commercial centers and government facilities were grouped together in an open and communal style. Armenian Earthquake Memorial at the Red Cross Bldg in Washington, D.C. In 1988, a 6.9 earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake, hit a densely populated region in Armenia. Innumerable apartment buildings and industrial facilities collapsed or faced heavy damage. In many places, there weren't enough cranes with which to clear the rubble, leaving people to "work with bare hands.". Marrecca Fiore | February 13, 2020 In 1988, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck near the northern Armenian city of Spitak. The group, including a structural engineer who specialized in seismic-resistant designs, agreed that building inadequacies were the primary reason why the strong (but not huge) earthquake was so damaging, although the freezing temperatures also played a role in the unusually high death toll. At that time 20 projects had completed the planning process and some had been approved and construction started. By the end of 1988, there were practically no Muslims (Turks or Kurds) left in Armenia. 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. The damage extended across an area of over 50 miles in diameter, per BBC. 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. Rumbles from the quake were felt as far as Georgia and Azerbaijan. the contents of this service without the expressed written The paper entitled "Predictors of permanent emigration in a long-term cohort of Spitak earthquake survivors in Armenia" is the most recent publication in the series of papers on the Post-earthquake Psychopathological Investigation (PEPSI) longitudinal study, which followed a cohort of survivors of the 1988 Spitak earthquake for over two decades. The next day, on December 12th, a Yugoslav military plane crashed during its attempt to land, roughly 10 miles from the Yerevan airport. More than 25,000 people were reported dead from the earthquake and 130,000 were left injured. The narrator talks about "the terrifying Spitak earthquake". In addition to government aid, American Armand Hammer, a philanthropist who headed Occidental Petroleum Corp., flew to Armenia on Dec. 10 with a planeload of medical supplies and a $1 million donation. When muscles get crushed, their cells start to leak and die, and their contents, including potassium and myoglobin, start to build up. On December 6th, 1988, the northern region of Armenia was hit by a magnitude 3.0 earthquake at 3:27 in the afternoon followed by a larger aftershock that measured 5.8 almost five minutes afterward. 1939-12-26 23:57:23 UTC at 23:57 December 26, 1939 UTC Location: Epicenter at 39.771, . Just a few months later, the Soviet Throughout the 20th century, there were several earthquakes throughout Armenia, but none caused destruction comparable to the earthquake that struck Spitak in 1988. by Bethany Augliere A population of 3.6 million lives in . ", "Deaths and Injuries due to the Earthquake in Armenia A Cohort Approach", "Lessons and questions emerge from Armenian quake", "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. The epicenter was in an industrial area of northern Armenia which housed a nuclear power plant, electrical substations and food and chemical industries. According to the Journal of Emergency and Internal Medicine, nearly 600 people experienced acute kidney failure associated with crush syndrome. "], [{"name": "DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI > National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce", "roles": ["pointOfContact"]}], {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[42.0, 40.0], [48.0, 40.0], [48.0, 43.0], [42.0, 43.0], [42.0, 40.0]]]}. [29], Avant-garde musician Pierre Schaeffer led a 498-member French rescue team to look for survivors in Leninakan, and worked there until all foreign personnel were asked to leave after the plan to bulldoze what was left of the ruins was formulated. However, according to Earth Magazine, these quakes didn't receive much attention because few thought that there was a serious seismic risk in the region. 1979 Morbi Damburst vs. 1988 Armenian earthquake. Washington immediately responded with offers of doctors, medical equipment, and rescue teams, and by the first weekend the first US plane arrived in Yerevan with search and rescue teams and detection dogs. Going westward the fault split into two branches, a north-dipping reverse fault (north branch) and a right slip fault (south branch), but neither produced surface rupture. Gyumri. Not subject to copyright protection within the United States. 12,000 PEOPLE BEING . So many towns and villages were affected or destroyed. In some of the cities, the loss of medical staff numbered between 70% to 80%. The east-central segment coincided with the surface breaks between Spitak and Gekhasar, while the west-central portion's break was concealed under an anticline and was not visible at the surface. The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake, occurred on December 7 at 11:41 local time with a surface wave magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum MSK intensity of X, 25,000 and 50,000 were killed and up to 130,000 were injured and leaves up to 500,000 homeless. Upwards of 10,000 people were reported to have been killed, mostly by the resulting landslides. Oni , Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti , Georgia. The mainshock produced surface rupture and propagated to the west with a separate strike-slip sub-event occurring two seconds later that propagated to the southeast. permission of the American Geosciences Institute is expressly The goal is to provide permanent housing to those still displaced by the earthquake while restoring the original city centres. Gorbachev set aside 5 billion rubles (about US$8 billion) in funds for a start on what would likely be a recovery cost that would exceed the cleanup bill for the 1986 nuclear and radiation accident in Ukraine. "], [{"type": "publication", "value": "1994-08-23"}]. The flight also carried Robert Seiple (president of World Vision) and a UCLA doctor who had worked in the aftermath of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. An engineer with the team stated that the regulations for the area mandated that buildings be required to stand up against events measuring seven or eight on the twelve-degree MedvedevSponheuerKarnik scale. Latest quakes in or near Spitak, Lori, Armenia, in the past 24 hours on Saturday, August 27, 2022. Borjomi , Samtskhe-Javakheti , Georgia. Areas to the southwest of Armenia, such as the northeastern Mediterranean coast, Turkey and Iran, are quite seismically active: More than four quakes with magnitudes greater than six have struck Turkey in the 20th century alone. Rescue teams and medical supplies were immediately dispatched to Armenia from the United States, France, India, and Cuba. The Americans donated generously as well, with Washington dispatching eight official planeloads of official relief aid plus a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter from Italy. Bush on Governors Island on Dec. 7, 1988. [35], The French arrived in Armenia in the late evening on Friday, December 9, and relieved the exhausted Armenian workers who then returned to Yerevan. December 7, 2021 victoriapavlov I will never forget December 7th, 1988. Spitak, a town of 25,000 inhabitants, has been completely destroyed and cannot be rebuilt - a new city will . Most collapsed, killing two-thirds of their doctors, destroying equipment and medicine, and reducing the capacity to handle the critical medical needs in the region. 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