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25 YEARS AGO: ARMENIA SEEKS RELIEF AFTER DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE
World Socialist Web Site
Dec 9 2013
This Week in History
Rescue worker searching for survivors under the rubble
European rescue teams and equipment were airlifted into Armenia
on December 10, 1988, just days after the strongest earthquake on
record for the region hit the Soviet Transcaucasus. The quake, with
a magnitude of 6.9, virtually wiped out the region of Spitak, killing
a large part of the population of more than 55,000. Armenia's second
largest city of Leninakan, with a population of nearly 250,000, was
more than 80 percent destroyed, according to a government communique.
Also devastated were the cities of Kirovakan and Stepanavan as well
as the district of Akhuryanansky. In addition to Soviet troops and
equipment that were sent into the disaster area to conduct rescue and
relief operations, rescue teams, food, clothing, and medical supplies
were flown in from around the world.
For days, people were trapped in the rubble of schools, factories
and apartment buildings. The newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party,
Pravda, later said that poor construction from the era during the rule
of Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982) was responsible for the extent of the
death toll. Rescue efforts were largely given up a week after the
quake. The voices and cries for help from under the rubble dropped
off sharply after December 12, when temperatures plummeted to below
freezing.
In the aftermath of the quake, an estimated 500,000 were made
homeless. In the freezing weather, displaced residents were forced to
huddle around huge outdoor bonfires before tents arrived to provide
limited shelter. The final estimated death toll was as high as 50,000,
with injuries over 100,000.
From: Baghdasarian
World Socialist Web Site
Dec 9 2013
This Week in History
Rescue worker searching for survivors under the rubble
European rescue teams and equipment were airlifted into Armenia
on December 10, 1988, just days after the strongest earthquake on
record for the region hit the Soviet Transcaucasus. The quake, with
a magnitude of 6.9, virtually wiped out the region of Spitak, killing
a large part of the population of more than 55,000. Armenia's second
largest city of Leninakan, with a population of nearly 250,000, was
more than 80 percent destroyed, according to a government communique.
Also devastated were the cities of Kirovakan and Stepanavan as well
as the district of Akhuryanansky. In addition to Soviet troops and
equipment that were sent into the disaster area to conduct rescue and
relief operations, rescue teams, food, clothing, and medical supplies
were flown in from around the world.
For days, people were trapped in the rubble of schools, factories
and apartment buildings. The newspaper of the Soviet Communist Party,
Pravda, later said that poor construction from the era during the rule
of Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982) was responsible for the extent of the
death toll. Rescue efforts were largely given up a week after the
quake. The voices and cries for help from under the rubble dropped
off sharply after December 12, when temperatures plummeted to below
freezing.
In the aftermath of the quake, an estimated 500,000 were made
homeless. In the freezing weather, displaced residents were forced to
huddle around huge outdoor bonfires before tents arrived to provide
limited shelter. The final estimated death toll was as high as 50,000,
with injuries over 100,000.
From: Baghdasarian