RF embassy in Armenia pays tribute to memory of 1988 earthquake  victims 

ArmInfo.  The Russian Embassy in Armenia honored the memory of the victims of the 1988 earthquake.

"On December 7, at the monument 'To Innocent Victims, To Merciful  Hearts' in the courtyard of the Holy Savior Church, representatives  of the Russian House in Gyumri, the 102nd Russian Military Base, and  the Leninakan Red Banner Border Detachment honored the memory of the  victims of the 1988 Spitak earthquake. Memories of the 1988 tragedy  remain vivid, reminding us of the price of human life and the need to  remember those who passed too soon. We bow our heads in memory of the  innocent victims," the Russian Embassy in Armenia stated in a  statement.

On December 7, Armenia remembers the victims of the Spitak  earthquake. Thirty-seven years ago, on December 7, 1988, a  devastating earthquake struck Armenia. According to official figures,  25,000 people died, almost as many were injured, and 514,000 people  lost their homes. Within 30 seconds, the city of Spitak was virtually  destroyed, while Leninakan (now Gyumri), Stepanavan, and Kirovakan  (now Vanadzor) were devastated. In total, 21 cities and regions of  Armenia, as well as 350 villages, were damaged by the earthquake, 58  of which were completely destroyed.

The earthquake began on December 7, 1988, at 11:41 a.m. local time  and lasted only 30 seconds. Its magnitude on the Richter scale  reached 10 on the Richter scale at its epicenter in Spitak, 9 on the  Richter scale in Leninakan, and 8 on the Richter scale in Kirovakan.  The village of Nalband, closest to the earthquake's epicenter, was  completely buried, and more than 340 other villages and 20 towns were  seriously damaged. The magnitude 6 earthquake zone covered a  significant portion of the republic, with tremors felt in Yerevan and  Tbilisi. The earthquake's tremors circled the globe twice and were  recorded by scientific laboratories in Europe, Asia, America, and  Australia. The earthquake struck northern Armenia, affecting  approximately 40% of its territory.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, various state projects were  implemented in Armenia, including those aimed at providing housing to  families affected by the earthquake. By 2008, 60,000 families  affected by the earthquake had received housing, and from 2008 to  2017, another 4,839 families were provided with housing under the  state program. At this point, the government announced that it had  completed the program for providing housing to urban families  affected by the earthquake, although even at that point, more than  500 families were known to be living in temporary housing in rural  areas.

In December 2018, the Armenian government assured that those affected  by the 1988 earthquake would receive housing by 2020. In 2019, a  government task force conducted an inventory of temporary structures  in the Spitak earthquake zone. In the Shirak, Lori, and Aragatsotn  regions, there were 7,219 temporary structures housing approximately  25,000 people. On July 26, 2019, authorities announced that 453  affected families would be relocated from temporary structures to new  housing. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced at the  time that approximately $6.3 million was planned for this purpose.  However, the pandemic and armed conflict in the fall of 2020 hampered  the implementation.