The Diocese
Posted: 12/04/2020
Thirty-two 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 11:41 a.m., the earthquake damaged nearly a third of the country and destroyed the town of Spitak near the epicenter.
The quake, known as the Spitak earthquake, killed between more than 25,000 people, injured up to 130,000, and left more than 500,000 homeless. Two-thirds of the victims were under 18. Hospitals and schools collapsed, and electrical and water supplies were cut off.
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.
On Sunday, December 6, 2020, a special prayer will be held in all parishes of the Western Diocese in memory of the victims of the earthquake of 1988.
