Tremors of the earth. The element that destroyed Spitak. Spitak: a quarter of a century after the disaster Earthquake Leninakan Spitak

On December 7, 1988, Faghrad Apujanyan, an official from the town of Spitak in northern Armenia, went out of town on a routine business trip. On the road, the car jolted. Apujanyan could not determine the strength of the shock in open space, and besides, weak earthquakes occurred in these parts on a regular basis. Nevertheless, the concerned official decided to return home ...

... and found that the city was gone. Spitak was destroyed to the ground. The first thing that struck Apujanyan was complete silence, literally dead. This personal tragedy ended almost optimistically: although the official's house collapsed, he managed to find his family unharmed. Many others are so unlucky. One of the largest tragedies of the late USSR, the Spitak earthquake, was unfolding before the eyes of the country.

The catastrophe occurred at a difficult moment for the country. The USSR gradually collapsed, the conflict flared up between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In a word, the state structures of the Soviet Union were not in the best condition. However, the element does not choose the moment when people will be ready for her antics in the best way.

Powerful earthquakes in the north of Armenia have already occurred several times, and they are already accustomed to constant small aftershocks. On December 1, 1988, seismic stations recorded a weak shaking, which was not given importance. However, new aftershocks followed on 6 December.

The seismological expedition at the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR became concerned and began to prepare a departure for a thorough study of the situation. Not long before this, geophysicists sounded the alarm: high-rise buildings in Spitak, Leninakan, Kirovakan were built without taking into account the characteristics of the region and do not meet the requirements of seismic safety, it is necessary to take measures to correct the situation. However, these initiatives were either late or simply were not heard by the local authorities. Compliance and laxity are often more dangerous than direct malicious intent.

On December 7 at 11:41 local time, the north-west of Armenia shuddered. A series of tremors lasted only half a minute, but during this time the republic was struck by a monstrous blow. In Spitak, a quiet, provincial town, the strength of the tremors was 7.2 on the Richter scale. These are very powerful tremors, about the same level as, for example, the famous Messina earthquake. Spitak was at the very epicenter.

Mark Grigoryan, who was then a school teacher in Yerevan, said:

- I taught a lesson in one of the eighth grade. Suddenly a low and frightening rumble was heard, girls screeched, and the desks moved in a strange way. I looked out the window and saw two ten-story residential buildings swing towards each other. They seemed to fall like dominoes. But they straightened up.

If in Yerevan the tremors were simply felt, then in the north of the republic the earth began to shake. Houses were folded inward, those who were on the street could not keep their feet, people ran to open places. The earthquake comes in waves, and later one of its survivors said that his attempts to resist were like jumping rope.

An officer from the military garrison located in the Leninakan fortress wrote how he tried to stay at least on all fours, and next to him, like a horse, galloped "Ural". One man survived in a peculiar way: he was asleep, and he was thrown out the window right on the bed, which cushioned the blow. Another resident was lucky a little differently: she went out to dry the clothes and, instead of falling through the rubble, flew out of the fifth floor along with the balcony. She mutilated her leg, but she remained alive.

In half a minute the tremors stopped. By this time, the city of Spitak did not exist, and three more cities and countless villages were severely destroyed.

Almost a million people were in the disaster zone.

Under the rubble were not only ordinary residents, but also doctors and firefighters who could have rescued them. Medical equipment was destroyed in the collapsed hospitals.

Officially, the tragedy was reported almost immediately. On December 7, the Vremya program devoted an evening edition to the disaster, and Mikhail Gorbachev immediately interrupted his visit to the United States.

There and then began feverish work to eliminate the consequences of the disaster. A huge problem was that tens of kilometers of railroad tracks were out of order, three stations were seriously destroyed, and several traction electrical substations were knocked out. So the rail network in the disaster area was paralyzed. Therefore, vehicles were to be the key method of communication for saving people. However, for several days there were also serious problems on the roads: the personal cars of the refugees created huge traffic jams, and the highways were also damaged.

But the "air bridge" worked with might and main. Nearby airports worked without stopping, on the second day they managed to restore the Leninakan airport with a wild effort. All flights not related to the rescue operation were canceled, rescue Ilys landed on the runway one after another.

Fires became a separate problem. Kirovakan became an especially dangerous point - there a fire started at a chemical plant. At the same time, in Leninakan and Spitak, local fire services were seriously affected by the earthquake: many firefighters were killed or wounded, the equipment remained under the rubble. From other cities - and even from neighboring Georgia - firefighters were brought to the disaster area first. Fortunately, the buildings were mostly stone, so the fire was dealt with quickly: by the evening of December 7, the fires had more or less overcome.

By the way, the Armenian nuclear power plant did not receive the terrible glory of Chernobyl, also because a group of qualified nuclear scientists was transferred within literally several hours from the Kola station, from near Murmansk, to inspect, stop the station and eliminate a possible accident. Some of the people from the ArmNPP fled, but the more valuable is the discipline of the remaining personnel and Murmansk residents.

This episode remained almost unknown to the general public, and yet here is just the case when the catastrophe was canceled at the last moment: the reactor began to overheat, and the nuclear scientists restored the water supply to cool the reactor core as soon as possible - with the help of the remaining fire trucks. The peculiarities of the original structure of the ArmNPP should also be noted: a special system of hydraulic shock absorbers and a particularly strong construction of all buildings made it possible to keep the situation under control: the equipment did not fall apart and did not start flying around the station. In any case, no one found out about the potential Fukushima, because it never happened.

Another catastrophe that could have happened but did not happen is an epidemic. In the disaster zone there are natural foci of tularemia and plague, corpses of people and animals are everywhere - in a word, in the absence of due attention to this aspect of the catastrophe, a wave of medieval diseases could sweep across Armenia.

Fortunately, this threat was tracked down in time, and medical squads - both civilian and army - gathered from all over the country, including, for example, a group from Saratov. Catching rodents, mass vaccinations, water control - for three months the level of gastrointestinal diseases did not exceed the background level, which can be safely called a well-organized miracle. The sewerage and water pipes disappeared, and the military solved the problem by extending a field pipeline, in theory, intended for gasoline.

However, the most difficult and urgent problem was the dismantling of the rubble and the rescue of those who managed to get out on their own. Thousands of people were left under the rubble. People crowded in the squares - they feared new shocks. Shouts came from under the rubble, and some rescuers later recalled that the most terrible impression for them was not destruction and not disfigured bodies, but the cessation of screams and groans from under the concrete slabs, when the wounded man's crying was replaced by the dead man's silence.

The first to start arriving in Spitak were units of the Armed Forces and border guards. Almost immediately, a headquarters for liquidating the consequences of the earthquake was formed, headed by the chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Nikolai Ryzhkov. By all accounts, Nikolai Ivanovich worked for wear and tear.

Soldier Alexander Kakhovsky wrote:

At about 4:00 am on December 8 we arrived at Leninakan. In the darkness of the night, the silhouettes of the mounds left from the houses were visible, I thought it was just such a landscape of the area.

The main job of excavating the rubble fell on 20 thousand soldiers. A group of a hundred doctors immediately flew from Moscow to Armenia, which was personally headed by the USSR Minister of Health Yevgeny Chazov. Tent camps for rescuers and refugees grew around the ruins. The fields of the stadiums have turned into helipads. People and technology came and went. Airports literally burst with planes landing one after another. Ily and Ana, with humanitarian aid almost to the point of running out of fuel, circled over the airfields, waiting for the window on the runway to be free; on the ground, the planes even taxied from the parking lots onto the ground to free up more space. In addition to the USSR, many countries participated in the rescue operation and the delivery of humanitarian aid, including the USA, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Canada ...

However, the huge load on the airports still affected. The Leninakan airport received 180 flights a day, which is a monstrous burden for this microscopic air harbor. Due to the need to rapidly accept hundreds of aircraft, a new misfortune happened - two planes crashed in turn, a Yugoslavian and a Soviet. By some whim of fate, an Azerbaijani civil defense company was in the Soviet liner.

While some struggled to rescue work and even died, others improved matters in the disaster. Unfortunately, crime is an inevitable companion to disasters. The most arrogant bandits tried to plunder the planes with humanitarian aid right at the airports. The military and civilian authorities were in constant conflict over areas of responsibility. Apparently, many officials had a personal interest in this dirty business, so a significant part of the humanitarian aid disappeared into oblivion.

This is especially true of the aid sent by Western countries: a lot of dry rations, generators, and clothing items simply disappeared before reaching those in need. Ruins of banks and jewelry stores were plundered in the affected cities themselves. There were constant rumors about extrajudicial executions of looters, but there is no exact information on this topic.

Debris teams worked furiously on site. They had to plow in the wet snow in the wind.

Monstrous stories were continuously played out on the ruins. One of the rescuers found a woman under the concrete slabs, who had already started necrosis of the crushed hand. Raising the slab meant killing her - the cadaveric poison would get into the blood. Apparently, it was impossible to call a doctor for some reason. The rescuer - a soldier of the first year of service - injected the unfortunate promedol and amputated a limb right under the rubble with a hacksaw, using alcohol as an antiseptic. The woman was rescued, and the unfortunate guy was turned inside out right on the spot of his feat.

In addition to army units, volunteers poured into Leninakan and Spitak in large numbers. The climbers were of particular value. The experience of rock climbing acquired a new meaning among the ruins: it was necessary to climb on the twisted ruins, then to penetrate into the gap between the slabs. For the same reason, the mining rescue teams were of great value, in particular, a very large group that arrived almost immediately from the Donbass.

Nikolay Vyrypaev from Penza, a member of one of these groups, recalled an episode at the airport: the volunteers decided to buy additional medicines and dressings at the local pharmacy kiosk - and took out all the contents for free: the kiosk woman refused the money.

They signed up for rescuers quickly. Gennady Kirilenko, a student from Rostov, said:

In the afternoon, without any command from above, students and teachers lined up to donate blood. In the main building on Bolshaya Sadovaya, people carried canned food, cans with Don pickles, Azov bream, pasta and cereals, in general, everything that they had in store in the storerooms of the Rostov Khrushchev for a rainy day.

Kirilenko volunteered for Armenia, and there was such an influx of applicants that they were screened out by the medical board. "Ikarus" with volunteers got to Spitak with difficulty: on the way, in Georgia, diesel fuel ran out, and local drivers got the fuel.

Notices were pasted on all walls and windows:

"If you are alive, I am waiting for you at ..."

"Mommy, I'm alive, I'm waiting for you at your aunt's ..."

"If you see this note, write on it where to find you."

The organization of the process has not always been exemplary.One of the rescuers said that dbelief of the central headquarters were machine gunners in bulletproof vests and helmets, reinforced police detachments.

People rush into the headquarters, asking for help:

- The cranes are standing still: no crane operators and no fuel!

- No people - no one to dig!

Everything gets stuck in the confusion of the staff. We hear their answers: no cars, no oxygen, no acetylene, no medicines, no people ...

- How not? And we?

We've been trying to get attention for an hour.

To hell with the headquarters! We approach people directly:

- Where to go?

One thin black man touches my sleeve:

- Rescuers?

- Yes, we are rescuers.

- Come on, we need help here.

Leads us to another person:

- Here are the people, they can help.

This is the director of the Leninakan bookseller. None of us remembered his name, we call it unanimously Pope.

- Hurry! Let's go!

Another person left a creepy sketch:

People are looking for relatives and hope to find living. Helicopters with humanitarian aid land at the preserved Spitak stadium. At the entrance to the city sits a small boy with large, fixed eyes. He silently hands passers-by a piece of paper on which the names of his parents are written. Nobody knows where they are. The pictures of destroyed cities and villages are terrible. The blows of the underground elements defy logical explanation. Here are some of the same houses along the highway. One is destroyed, the next is intact, after it is destroyed again, close to it - whole. It was like a hellish devil poking his fingers randomly. In ruined houses, abandoned by people, marauders prowl. They caught one in my presence, almost trampled to death.

Many pseudo-earthquake victims have appeared in Yerevan, knocking out money in all sorts of instances.

On the streets of the city, empty coffins and wagons with bread stand right on the asphalt. This is the main thing that the dead and the living need now.

During the excavations, a monstrous fact came to light: houses were built not just without taking into account the seismic hazard, but in violation of the most elementary building codes. Often, concrete slabs crumbled when lifted by a crane, and many apartments were redesigned so carelessly that it posed a threat even in normal situations.

The greatest destruction was in four cities: Leninakan and Spitak were practically destroyed, Stepanavan was destroyed by two-thirds, Kirovakan by a third. At the same time, almost all the victims were clearly localized: out of 25 thousand dead, almost 10 thousand fell on Leninakan and Spitak.

More than half a million people were affected by the disaster. 12 thousand people were so injured that they had to be hospitalized. 514 thousand people were left homeless. Rescuers removed nearly 40 thousand people from the rubble. More than 72 thousand soldiers, civil servants and volunteers took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the disaster, excluding the local population.

Gradually, rescue work was replaced by restoration work. At first, the reconstruction of the lost cities proceeded at an accelerated pace, but soon an event known to everyone happened: the Soviet Union collapsed. As a result, many families displaced by the earthquake never received a new home.

The earthquake in Armenia is not only a huge tragedy. As often happens, an acute situation reveals all the advantages and disadvantages of both the state and specific people. All the problems of the late Soviet Union appeared in this story: the slow reaction of the bureaucracy to danger signals, initially unsuitable for this area buildings in the disaster zone.

However, the operation to eliminate the consequences is one of the last truly bright spots in the history of the Soviet state and society. Some people showed themselves not from the best side, while others showed themselves to be real heroes. Volunteers from the farthest lands who went to Spitak at their own expense, experts from all industries, who quickly appeared at the scene of the tragedy, including, for example, a detachment of climbers from Lvov and inconspicuous nuclear heroes from Murmansk. Prime Minister Ryzhkov, who did not spare himself, later became the national hero of Armenia. In many cases, quick and effective work made it possible to cope with threats that could multiply the scale of the disaster.

The picture "Earthquake" is released in December Sarik Andreasyandedicated to the tragic events in Armenia. 28 years ago, almost half of the country's territory suffered from a powerful blow of the elements, thousands of people died in the stone captivity of destroyed houses. Then this misfortune, without exaggeration, united the whole world. Aid to the victims came not only from the Union republics, but also from other countries. It was a common grief, one for all.

Under the rubble

The main blow of the disaster fell on the city of Spitak, which was in the epicenter of the earthquake; Leninakan, Kirovakan, Stepanavan and about 300 other settlements also suffered. Eyewitnesses of those terrible events said that in the first seconds from strong vertical shocks, houses literally jumped into the air, and then formed a reinforced concrete pile, burying everyone inside. Those who were on the street at that moment could hardly stand on their feet, the earth shook. In panic, many crowded in open squares and squares, fearing to be buried alive under the ruins of houses. After 30 seconds, the rumble of crumbling buildings was replaced by silence, and a huge cloud of dust hung in the air.

When the tremors ended, someone could not recover from the shock, someone hurried home, hoping to find relatives and friends. But it was not possible to free people from the rubble on their own. The help of professional rescuers was needed. Alas, she did not come right away, because the infrastructure of the republic was also badly damaged. And when the incident was announced on television, a huge number of people rushed to Armenia not only to help, but also to cash in on someone else's grief. As a result, all roads were clogged, which only exacerbated the situation. Civil defense regiments could not get through to the scene of the tragedy.

The streets of the city. Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Mikhalev

The hardest part was those who fell into stone captivity of their own houses. Some people remained completely immobilized under the rubble for several days. They didn’t know what had happened and whether help would come. History Emma Hakobyan and her three month old daughter Mariam knows the whole world. A woman with a child spent seven long days under the ruins of her house and only miraculously survived. At first she breastfed her daughter, but when the milk disappeared, she pierced her finger, and the mother's blood began to flow. From under the rubble, Emma was taken out for 6 hours. But this story with a happy ending is rather an exception to the rule, in most cases people died without waiting for help.

Mass graves of earthquake victims. Leninakan, 1988 Photo: www.globallookpress.com

One grief for all

While most of the people were grieving and mourning the dead, the looters rushed to enrich themselves. They robbed savings banks and shops, without a twinge of conscience they appropriated other people's things. They did not disdain anything: they tore out earrings directly from the ears of the victims, cut off their fingers with rings. To stop this arbitrariness, 20 thousand servicemen came to the aid of the victims.

Along with egregious cases of looting, there were absolutely opposite stories. Thus, in Leninakan, the relatives of the victims and the victims were released from the colonies and prisons to help in the excavation of the rubble. They released 250 people - they returned a week later, only one escaped. He was soon detained.

Two days after the tragedy, he flew to Armenia general Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev... The news of the earthquake caught him during an official visit to the United States. Gorbachev urgently returned to the Union; he arrived in Armenia with his wife. According to eyewitnesses, seeing the scale of the disaster, Raisa Maksimovnaburst into tears.

Rescue work. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Makarov

The first days became especially difficult for Armenia, the death toll was in the thousands. Not only professionals, but also many volunteers were involved in the liquidation of the consequences of the earthquake. These people worked for days, practically without sleep and rest, they lost their health, and sometimes they just went crazy, unable to cope with their own emotions.

Aid to the affected republic was provided not only by the entire Union, but also by many foreign countries. Doctors and rescuers from France, Switzerland, Great Britain, Germany, America arrived in Armenia. More than 100 states provided humanitarian support. It seemed that the tragedy united the whole world. However, the collapse of the USSR thwarted plans to rebuild destroyed cities.

New life

Almost immediately after the tragedy, an operation to restore them began in the affected settlements. 45 thousand builders from all Union republics left for the disaster areas. On January 7, the first house was laid in Leninakan, and at the end of the year its new tenants celebrated a housewarming.

Of course, it is reasonable to ask why the 1988 earthquake became so devastating and destroyed entire cities. The answer was simple: construction in the republic was carried out in violation of technology, and the quality of the materials used was very low. It is for this reason that the disaster left over five hundred thousand people homeless in a matter of seconds.

Housing restoration in Leninakan, 1989. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The earthquake in Armenia became a kind of impetus for the emergence of a system for preventing and eliminating the consequences of various emergencies in the republics of the USSR. Previously, there was not even a basic plan of action in extreme conditions. Many leaders gave orders intuitively, for example, head of the Department of Internal Affairs of Leninakan Levan Galastyanat his own peril and risk ordered to completely cut off the gas. Subsequently, it became clear that if he had not cut off the gas arbitrarily - the city would have burned, and the number of victims would have increased significantly.

Alas, a person often forgets what should in no way be forgotten. If in the first years after the tragedy, every December 7 the country grieved for the dead, then over time everything came to naught. Today, the new generation doesn't even know what happened back in 1988.

In 2016, the film "Earthquake" was released, which tells about the events of the 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia. The city of Spitak was completely destroyed in half an hour, and along with it the settlements of Gyumri, Vanadzor, Stepanavan. This film tells directly about the city of Leninakan, which is now called Gyumri. We came here to see the remnants of the ruins and talk to the locals who caught this terrible time.

In the center of the city everything has been rebuilt a long time ago; the city hall is on Vardanants Square.

And in the center of the square is the monument to Vardan Mamikonian - this is the national hero of Armenia, the leader of the uprising of Armenians against the Iranian Sassanids, who tried to impose the Zoroastrian religion.

When the locals asked in a cafe: "What to see here?", Everyone answered: "We have beautiful churches." There are even two of them on this square.
Church of the Virgin.

And the Amenaprkich church, which is still being restored.

By the way, this is how she looked after the earthquake.

But we are not really interested in this. Having learned the direction of movement to the area where the devastation remained after those times, we went to look for the ruins.

To be honest, the city is not in the best condition without an earthquake, although it is the second largest city in Armenia.

Electrician's terrible dream

Little by little we got to that area, destroyed but never rebuilt.

It seems that the earthquake here took place not 29 years ago, but yesterday.

The government set a period of 2 years for restoration, however, after 3 years the Soviet Union collapsed, in connection with which the period was postponed. Actually, the consequences of the 1988 earthquake have not been eliminated until now. What is noteworthy is that the Union threw all its money and labor forces to help those affected by the disaster in Spitak: more than 45 thousand volunteers came from the republics. Tens of thousands of parcels from all over the Soviet Union arrived in the city and surrounding settlements as humanitarian aid.

During this earthquake, about 30,000 people died and more than 140,000 people were disabled.

And someone dropped everything and left.

Here it is noticeable how one strong wall of the house was preserved, and a completely different wall of the remains of bricks was built to it.

This house just got a wall

There are also beautiful buildings nearby.

This memorial square

There is a memorial sign installed here, but its meaning is almost impossible to understand.

And on the other side of the square there is a new monument "Innocent victims, merciful hearts", depicting a pile of people and concrete blocks.

The inscription on the stone slab next to it in Russian and Armenian reads:

“At 11:41 on December 7, on a foggy and gloomy December day in 1988, the mountains shook and the earth shook with tremendous force.

Cities, villages, schools, kindergartens and industrial enterprises were instantly destroyed. More than a million people were left homeless.

At this tragic hour, 25 thousand people died, 140 thousand became disabled, 16 thousand were recovered from the rubble.

And they were looking for their loved ones alive among those buried under the ruins.

And the children of their parents called, and the parents - their children.

And thousands with merciful hearts were with them in this grief.

And all the republics of the USSR and many countries of the world extended a helping hand to the Armenian people.

The people's grief over the innocent victims of the Spitak earthquake is deep.

May God rest their souls.

Eternal memory to them! "

Tombstones to the victims are erected along the square.

A fallen dome can be seen in front of the church.

One of the interesting acquaintances happened at a gas station on the outskirts of the city towards Yerevan. I was surprised by a very strange way, when refueling, not liters were counted, but kilograms of gas. First, the guy filled the balloon, which was on the scales, then poured it from the balloon into the car. This whole procedure took about half an hour. During this time, we managed to talk to him about the earthquake. At that time he was about 10 years old, but he perfectly remembers these events as a bad dream. Then he told how many people from the fraternal republics came and helped to rebuild the city, then they were given a new apartment. He spoke with great warmth about the USSR and was very sorry that this country no longer exists.

On December 7, 1988, at 11.41 local time, the so-called Spitak disaster occurred in Armenia. A terrible earthquake that in just 30 seconds turned the city of Spitak into ruins. Earthquake in Armenia in 1988 - Spitak disaster: one of the worst disasters in the history of mankind. There are several versions of the causes of the accident - some argue that the cause was a secret test of hydrogen bombs.

Figures and facts - Spitak natural cataclysm

A series of tremors began at 11:41 a.m. The magnitude of the earth's vibrations after the first shock and over the next ten seconds reached a limit of 7.2 points on the Richter scale. The minimum fluctuations of the Spitak disaster were 6.8 points, along the outskirts of the earthquake affected zone. Powerful tremors in almost half a minute destroyed the entire northern part of the Soviet Republic of Armenia. The catastrophe affected one million people who were left homeless, without jobs, lost their health or life.

The epicenter of the earthquake was the large city of Spitak (Spitak)... The intensity of tremors in this settlement reached 10 points (on the Medvedev-Sponheuer-Karnik twelve-point scale). The tremors were also significantly felt in other cities of the republic - Tbilisi and Yerevan, where the disaster destroyed multi-storey buildings, left settlements without means of communication, and also significantly undermined the infrastructure.

According to scientists vibrating the wave from the earthquake circled the globe twice! Its activity was even registered by laboratories in Europe. Also recorded fluctuations in the scientific centers of America and Australia. Scientists in Asia also learned about the incident almost immediately after the start of the disaster - the vibration of the earth's crust swept across the world.

As for people, the number of human casualties is record high. According to official data as a result of the Spitak disaster, about 25 thousand people died... But unofficial statistics are much sadder - they say that the earthquake took the lives of 150 thousand people. Almost 21 thousand of the population were left disabled. Then 515 thousand people were left without a roof over their heads. The Spitak disaster is one of the most terrible cataclysms that have occurred in the world over the past two hundred years.

According to Soviet and world statistics, then a devastating disaster covered more than 41% of the entire territory of the Republic of Armenia, in one second undermining the economy of the USSR and killing thousands of people.

Damage from the Spitak disaster

If you do not talk about the damage that the catastrophe caused by destroying residential buildings, then you need to remember that at the time of the Spitak disaster, the Armenian nuclear power plant ceased to function... They barely managed to close it in the first seconds of the earthquake, fearing an accident. According to the work of the Armenian NPP, a few seconds more and the natural cataclysm would be complemented by a man-made accident. After an emergency shutdown, the reactors were placed in special concrete capsules in storage facilities below the plant. This guaranteed safety, but significantly affected the quality of the industry. One reactor then failed to be lifted out of storage.

Earth shaking destroyed about 45% of the industry of the Armenian SSR. The main damage occurred to the city of Spitak and 58 villages in the district - these settlements were completely destroyed, all road junctions were unusable. The city of Leninakan (today the city of Gyumri), Stepanavan and Vanadzor were partially damaged. In these settlements, after the disaster, about 56% of the industrial potential was destroyed, but the roads remained intact. Therefore, emergency medical assistance was promptly dispatched to the scene. Another 300 towns and cities required significant reconstruction.

According to unofficial data, 21 cities and 360 settlements and villages were affected by the natural disaster. It is statistically known that 59 villages were completely destroyed, the earthquake razed them to the ground.

Earth fluctuation statistics published in the Armenian SSR (on a 12-point scale):

During the earthquake, the following were destroyed and completely ceased to function:

Unofficial sources, assumptions - secret test of hydrogen bombs in the USSR

Experts have calculated that in the zone of rupture of the earth's crust at the time of the Spitak earthquake, the energy released outside was equal to the explosion of ten atomic bombs of the "Hiroshima-Nagasaki" type. Some modern researchers are convinced that an ordinary earthquake in a fairly calm region simply physically could not have such a large energy potential. Modern physicists and seismologists are sure that the Spitak disaster is nothing more than the Soviet secret test of hydrogen bombs.

Unofficial assumptions boil down to the fact that the USSR, in the arms race with the United States of America, decided to invent a unique lethal weapon in response to atomic warheads. After that, a project was developed for unique hydrogen bombs with an incredibly high energy output.

According to tentative estimates, taking into account the then technological capabilities of the Soviet Union, one such bomb could have the power of five atomic warheads of the type that were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That is, it is assumed that two such bombs were tested near the city of Spitak. It was they who could cause such a strong vibrational effect of the earth, as well as lead to the appearance of a crack at the junction of tectonic plates in Armenia.

But is it profitable for such a large country, even during the perestroika period, to test weapons if there is a threat to destroy the city's infrastructure? After all, the Union then spent, to put it mildly, a lot of money on the renewal of Spitake and the Okrug… The answers to these questions are ambiguous and conditionally divided into two camps.

Some physicists argue that the inventors simply did not expect that they could cause an earthquake of this magnitude. And they tested it near Spitak solely because this zone is considered seismically active. That is, they would not have paid much attention to a small earthquake as a result of an explosion. According to the second version proposed by historians and political strategists, the Armenian SSR did not bring much income to the country. Therefore, they experienced it there, without fear of undermining the economic standing of the entire Soviet Union with this explosion.

However, versions with testing hydrogen bombs are not official. Although these assumptions were made public by quite influential people, they were not officially confirmed. Today it is too late to search for the truth, since over the years it managed to get lost under the rubble of the city, to get lost among the hundreds of thousands of victims.

The official reasons for the Spitak disaster - why are there so many victims?

According to official estimates of experts from the Soviet Union, the Spitak disaster was caused by the following reasons:

How everything really happened - the words of eyewitnesses

On December 7, 1988 at 11:41 am local time, the earth shook for the first time. Further, the constant fluctuations did not stop for thirty seconds. The earthquake stopped in half a minute, but rescue services arrived at the scene only after four hours. According to official data, help was sent immediately, but due to destroyed roads and a lack of communication links, it could not reach the epicenter of the incident for a long time.

According to eyewitnesses:

The earthquake happened on Monday, the first working day of the week at the beginning of the warm Armenian winter. Unsuspectingly, the children went to school, the adults went to their jobs - the city, as usual, was in full swing with life.

At 11:41 a.m. the earth shook with such force that the houses jumped, breaking off the ground. Further, as if houses of cards were simply formed, burying those who stayed in them under the collapses forever.

People who were on the street at that moment were a little more fortunate. They had the opportunity to hide in parks. Eyewitnesses say that it was impossible to stay on your feet. Strong tremors of the earth knocked everyone to the ground, the sidewalks swayed like water and cracked just before our eyes. The houses around them collapsed at incredible speed, leaving behind huge clouds of dust.

Those who walked along the sidewalks and alleys near the high-rise buildings tried to hide from the debris of buildings. On people, in the literal sense of the word, walls collapsed and balconies fell. Those who were in stadiums, parks or squares were lucky enough to survive. But here, too, things were not so simple. Trees fell from the ferocious tremors of the earth, the asphalt surface cracked, children's swings, gazebos - fell to the ground in an instant.

30 seconds of hell, half a minute of a terrible disaster destroyed cities and towns without leaving a stone unturned. Within a few moments after the earthquake, the roar subsided, but it was impossible to look around and understand what had happened. Huge drinking clouds hung over everyone. The first fifteen minutes it was impossible to breathe.

After half an hour, the first cries for help were heard... Those who were lucky enough to survive were not deep under the rubble and begged for help ... But most of those who lived in high-rise buildings were buried alive deep in the ruins, without the ability to get out and call. Those who were on the upper floors at the time of the disaster had no chance of surviving.

Unfortunately, help did not arrive immediately. Of course, people tried to help on their own, but not having special rescue equipment and skills, few were saved. The hospital posts were destroyed, burying most of the doctors who were at work that day. Therefore, it was not possible to provide the necessary assistance to the wounded. There were no medicines, drugs for first aid. The city was drowned in ruins, screams, sobs and blood. The hysterical survivors rushed to their homes and apartments to check the condition of their relatives and friends, whether they were alive.

After an emergency meeting in Moscow, a commission was created to eliminate the consequences of the disaster. By general agreement and the approval of the head of state, the council was headed by Nikolai Ryzhkov, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

Four hours after the tragedy, rescuers and doctors were sent to the affected areas.

This was the first natural disaster on the territory of the USSR, which was openly talked about on TV and radio. Upon learning of the incident, hundreds of thousands of citizens of the Union went as volunteers to help the rescuers. Unfortunately, this was too little. Aid that did not arrive promptly could no longer save many. Some survivors talk about the horror they endured after spending several days under the landslides. The rescue operation lasted several weeks, and it was not possible to restore some cities ...

Cities, roads and infrastructure have been renewed for five long years. Citizens from all over the Union assembled volunteer brigades that helped to upset cities and make them livable. To this day, December 7 in Armenia is considered the day of remembrance for the victims of the Spitak disaster.

You can learn more about the topic of the Spitak disaster by watching the video below:

It happens like this: I am sure that certain events have long been forgotten, and suddenly you suddenly begin to remember.
Although 20 years have passed. After the earthquake in the Armenian city of Spitak, I went there as a volunteer rescuer.

Now I remember what was there. And what was not. I put my memories into two piles of what was and what was not.
There were no stoves in the tents, and the tents themselves, bulldozers, excavators. There were no jacks. There were no respirators. I tried to make from gauze, like surgical masks - but I couldn't work with them, special ones are needed. Dust is harmful as such, and dust mixed with cement, asbestos, etc. is toxic. Did not have.
There were no cranes.

There was water. Of course, there was no need to wash, but there was drink. Mineral. Local. You can drink, but tea turns out - unbearable muck.
The coffins were free. If you need it, come and take it. They appeared immediately, and there were no volunteer rescuers, the fires were still burning, and the military coffins had already been laid at the stadium. Such long stacks. Almost on the very first day.

There were no sappers, there was no one to organize directed explosions for clearing. The military gave us some packages, and one of the rescuers made cords (a hole in the rubble, where the charge was placed, and filled with sand around). I asked him - where did you learn? and he says: what are you doing! I’m since childhood! In general, I entered the Technological Institute, I didn't get half a point. But in general, our collapse wall is not hewn right. I feel it. So if we don't get fucked up now, I will do it again, without fail.
There were construction safety helmets. Lot. But this is for disassembling the rubble outside, rescuers do not need them. It is still impossible to work in a rubble in a helmet.
There were many marauders. If the dead are not covered with a tarpaulin, there is no strength to look, fingers stick out in different directions at wild angles, looters removed the rings.

There were no rescue ropes, drags, emergency sleeves. There were no jacks - I already said that. There were no boards for strengthening the galleries, drifts and manholes. Soldiers chopped furniture for this, and assembled all the fittings. It turned out badly: there is not enough furniture that has survived, it is immediately taken away for firewood, and if there is, it is too thin. And there were no boards, nothing to strengthen. You crawl, the blockage lives its own life, as if breathing. Scary.
There were military men. Lot. With machine guns at the ready, like in war.
There were no geophones - devices capable of picking up sounds made by people; there were no trained search dogs under the rubble.
There was alcohol. Lot.

There was humanitarian aid. A lot, good. She was sold in all city markets. The military was busy protecting it, the authorities were busy distributing it, the bandits were taking it away.
There were no lamps or spotlights. But they also worked at night. How - now I can't even explain. Somehow. Partly because it's cold to sleep: -10 degrees, not everyone has sleeping bags, there was no heating.
There were no diesel generators.
There were Austrian rescuers with specially trained dogs, which they carried over the rubble in their arms. A man in his life only once carried me in his arms, like they carried their dogs.
There were pseudo-victims of the earthquake, in Yerevan, knocking out money in all kinds of instances.
There was no "hour of silence" when they muffle all equipment and listen - all of a sudden they were alive under the rubble. Because you have to listen to it with the equipment, but there was none. It was suitable for these purposes from the military, but on the third day they were forbidden to give it due to secrecy. But sometimes you can hear it.

There was an elderly woman, she knocked on the surviving pipe with a piece of brick, she could be heard well on the surface. We took apart 14 hours. When the part was disassembled, part was brought down, a hole was made, and I went down to it into the rubble, because I had to fix it on a stretcher. I sat there for three hours - I was somehow embarrassed to leave, but when you say “I’ll come back for you,” they don’t believe, they immediately start howling. There were no jacks, there were no correct stretchers, there was no crane, only a homemade winch. They dragged it hard. So she told me: baby! you cannot say such words to a young girl, no one will marry you!
The board was not given back either, it was not. We flew away at our own expense, through Krasnodar, God knows how.
I never saw the volunteer rescuers with whom I was there. To write, to call each other - this was not the case.
It's good that we were there.
I think so.