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21 years later: Armenia commemorates 1988 earthquake victims
Twenty-one years ago, on December 7, a devastating earthquake ripped through Armenia leveling to the ground 40 per cent of the country's territory in a matter of seconds. It struck at 11:41 local time when children were at school and most people at work.
According to official data, up to 25 000 people died of the calamity.
The earthquake measuring 6, 9 on the Richter scale hit 21 towns and 342 villages. About 514 000 people were left homeless.
The force of the epicenter (town of Spitak with neighboring 12 villages) was 10.
21 years have passed ever since but the expression "calamity zone" is still preserved in our lexicon.
