Earthquake of December 07, 1988, M 6.8 in Spitak, Armenia

Earthquake of December 07, 1988, M 6.8 in Spitak, Armenia

On December 07, 1988, an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 occurred in Spitak area located in the north of Armenia at 07:41 GMT (11:41 in local time). The epicenter of the event was reported in a mountainous area with coordinates 40.987 ° N and 44.185 ° E and had shallow depth of 5 km. The earthquake was followed by an aftershock of magnitude 5.8 only 3 minutes after the mainshock which intensified the damages. This catastrophic event claimed more than 25,000, injured 20,000 and made 514,000 people homeless in Spitak and adjacent regions. More than 20 towns and 342 villages were affected by the earthquake among which 58 villages were completely destroyed. The rescue activities were systemized only two or three days later. The earthquake intensity was estimated to be about X in Spitak and IX in Gyumri. Aftershock swarm with maximum magnitude of 5 continued during next months.

The Spitak earthquake belongs to the group of earthquakes called “the whole cycle earthquake” i.e. there were foreshocks, the earthquake and aftershocks. The surface faulting could be followed for 10 kolometers and showed a fault scarp of 1.6 meters. In the epicentral region, several induced landslides blocked roads and buried railroad tracks and power transmission lines were severely damaged. The earthquake was severely felt in many regions such as neighbor countries Azerbaijan, Turkey and Tabriz-Orumiyeh area of Iran.

More references to study:

• Cisternas, H. Philip, J. C. Bousquet, M. Cara, A. Deschamps, L. Dorbath, C. Dorbath, H. Haessler, E. Jimenez, A. Nercessian, L. Rivera, B. Romanowicz, A. Gvishiani, N. V. Shebalin, I. Aptekman, S. Arefiev^, A. Borisov, A. Gorshkov, V. Graizer, A. Lander,  K. Pletnev, A. I. Rogozhin & R. Tatevossian^, 1989, “The Spitak (Armenia) earthquake of 7 December 1988: field observations, seismology and tectonics”, Nature 339, 675 – 679 (29 June 1989); doi:10.1038/339675a0.
• Balassanian S.Y., et al.,1995, “Retrospective analysis of the Spitak earthquake”, Annali de Geofisca, 38, 345–372.
• Hadjian, A. H., 1993, “ The Spitak, Armenia earthquake of 7 December 1988 – Why so much destruction?”, Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering,12, 1-24.

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