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| Date | December 7, 1988 |
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| Magnitude | 6.9 Ms 7.2 Ml |
| Depth | 5 km |
| Epicenter | [1] |
| Countries or regions | Leninakan, Spitak, Armenian SSR |
| Max. intensity | X – Disastrous |
| Casualties | At least 25,000 dead [2] |
The Spitak Earthquake (also called Leninakan Earthquake and Gyumri Earthquake) was a tremor with a magnitude of 6.9,[3] that took place on December 7, 1988 at 11:41 local time (07:41 UTC) in the Spitak region of Armenia, then part of the Soviet Union. The earthquake killed at least 25,000 people;[2] geologists and earthquake engineering experts laid the blame on the poorly built support structures of apartments and other buildings built during the "stagnation" era of Leonid Brezhnev.[4]
Despite the tensions of the Cold War, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev formally asked the United States, within a few days of the earthquake, for humanitarian help, the first such request since World War II.[4] 111 countries, including Belgium, Chile, China, France, Finland, Great Britain, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, US, West Germany, and Yugoslavia sent a substantial amount of humanitarian aid to the Soviet Union in the form of rescue equipment, search teams and medical supplies.
One Soviet plane carrying 78 relief workers, and one Yugoslav transport plane crashed in separate incidents, while supplying aid to the region.[5]
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Local housing infrastructure (particularly schools and hospitals) performed poorly in the earthquake and this resulted in about 25,000 lost lives. It has been estimated that if the earthquake had occurred 5 minutes later, children would have not been in schools' unstable buildings. This short time delay could have saved many lives. The earthquake was followed four minutes later by a magnitude 5.8 aftershock.
It cost over £3 billion ($3.5 billion USD) to repair the damaged property.
The entire city of Spitak was destroyed, and there was partial damage to the nearby cities of Gyumri (then called Leninakan) and Vanadzor (then Kirovakan). The tremor also caused damage to many surrounding villages. The Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant was also temporarily closed down because of the earthquake.
Since most of the hospitals in the area were destroyed, and because of extremely low winter temperatures, officials at all levels were not ready for a disaster of this scale and the relief effort was therefore not launched properly. The Armenian government let in foreign aid workers to help with the recovery in the earthquake's aftermath, and this was one of the first cases when rescue and relief workers from other countries were allowed to take part in relief works in the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev, on a visit to the United States, cut his trip short and went directly to Armenia to visit the quake-affected areas.
Contributions poured in from around the world to help the earthquake victims through the winter and to rebuild much of the housing. Spitak was totally rebuilt in a location next to the previous town, with many neighborhoods having very distinct architecture reflecting the country which donated or built the homes there. A monument expressing the appreciation of the Armenian people for assistance from the U.S. was erected in Washington D.C. in 1990.
The region in which the earthquake occurred is part of a broad seismic area, which stretches from Turkey to the Arabian Sea. Here, the Arabian landmass is slowly colliding with the Eurasian plate. The earthquake occurred along a small thrust fault, directly under Spitak. During the earthquake, the northeast-facing side of the Spitak section rode up and over the southwest-facing side.[6] The main shock occurred near the intersection between the Alavar fault and the Pambak-Sevan fault.[7]
Despite the fact the earthquake was only of a moderate size, with a magnitude of 6.9, there were various factors contributing to the large scale magnitude and destruction that followed. These included the time of day, freezing winter temperatures, poor soil conditions and inadequate building construction.[6]
After the seismic disaster, avant-garde musician Pierre Schaeffer led a 498-member rescue team to look for survivors.[8]
Nikolai Ryzhkov, the then Chairman of the Council of Ministers, was awarded the National Hero of Armenia for his work in rebuilding the city following the earthquake.
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