Significant earthquakes of 1988

December 7, 1988 Earthquake: Leninakan, Spitak, Kirovakan, Armenia

December 7, 1988 · M6.8 · 25,000 deaths · $16 billion

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Leninakan, Spitak, Kirovakan, Armenia on December 7, 1988 at 07:41:24 UTC, 5 km below the surface. It killed 25,000 people.

Map

Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.

The earthquake

Date
December 7, 1988
Time
07:41:24 UTC
Place
Leninakan, Spitak, Kirovakan, Armenia
Magnitude
6.8 (Ms)
Focal depth
5 km (3 mi)
Intensity
10 on the Modified Mercalli scale
Tsunami
None recorded
Epicenter
40.987° N, 44.185° E
Country
Armenia

The toll

Deaths
25,000
Damage
$16 billion
Houses destroyed
Very many (over 1,000)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

December 7, 1988, 07:41:24.2 UTC, 40.987 N, 44.185 E, depth 5 km, magnitude 6.2 mb, 6.8 MS. At least 25,000 people killed, 19,000 injured and 500,000 homeless in the Leninakan-Spitak-Kirovakan area of northern Armena and 58 of them were completely destroyed. Damage totaled 16.2 billion dollars. Damage (X) at Spitak and (IX) at Leninakan, Korovakan and Stepanavan. Surface faulting 10 km in length and with a maximum throw of 1.5 m occurred. Power transmission lines were severely damaged and landslides buried railroad tracks in the epicentral area. Damage occurred in the Kelbodzhar area. Azerbaijan, USSR. Felt (VII) at Tabatskuri, Razdan and Borzhomi; (VI) at Bogdonovka, Tblisi and Yerevan; (V) at Goris; (IV) at Makhachkala and Grozny; (III) at Sheki and Shemakha, USSR. Four people killed and about 200 houses damaged in the Tuzluca-Kagizman-Kars area, Turkey. Felt in the Tabriz-Orumiyeh area, Iran. Two events about three seconds apart. Depth from broadband displacement seismograms based on second event. (reference #1053)

December 7, 1988, Armenia, 25,000 killed, $14,000 million damage. (reference #1250)

Photos

From the NCEI/WDS Natural Hazards Image Database (doi:10.7289/V5154F01). Only photos by the USGS and NOAA, which are public domain, are shown.

Interior Collapse at School in Spitak, Armenia, 1988
Interior Collapse at School in Spitak, Armenia, 1988 Four hundred children were killed at this elementary school in Dzhrashen southeast of Spitak, Armenian SSR. The pre-cast concrete floors in the building collapsed due to poor ties with the walls. Photo: C.J. Langer, U.S. Geological Survey.
Collapse of Stone Masonry Bearing-Wall, Halavar, Armenia
Collapse of Stone Masonry Bearing-Wall, Halavar, Armenia Partial collapse of stone Masonry Bearing-Wall building north of Halavar (aka Alavar / Alivar), about 10 km SW of Kirovakan. Such load-bearing masonry-wall buildings were very common in large towns and cities in Armenia. This building type was unable to resist lateral shaking because of inadequate or lacking connections and bond beams tying the entire… Photo: C.J. Langer, U.S. Geological Survey.
Collapsed Structures, Halavar, Armenia
Collapsed Structures, Halavar, Armenia Partial collapse of stone masonry and concrete-frame composite buildings about 3 km north of Alivar. The components in these composite buildings, like those in the stone masonry buildings, were not connected with steel reinforcement. The grouted joints proved to be inadequate to hold the buildings together. Photo: C.J. Langer, U.S. Geological Survey.
Collapsed Stone Masonry Building, Halavar, Armenia
Collapsed Stone Masonry Building, Halavar, Armenia Collapsed stone masonry building near Alivar. The stone blocks were made of tuft (a lightweight stone composed of volcanic ash). The masonry walls supported hollow-core precast-concrete floor planks. Horizontal structural ties were inadequate or missing. There were also no connectors between floor planks and end walls. As a result these buildings collapsed… Photo: C.J. Langer, U.S. Geological Survey.
Collapsed Masonry Building, Arevashok, Armenia
Collapsed Masonry Building, Arevashok, Armenia Collapsed stone masonry building with concrete roof (under the metal) at Arevashok north of Spitak. At least one person was killed when this building collapsed. In Spitak eighty percent of such masonry buildings collapsed. Photo: C.J. Langer, U.S. Geological Survey.
Collapse of Composite Structure, Spitak, Armenia
Collapse of Composite Structure, Spitak, Armenia Partial collapse of composite structure with stone masonry infill walls near Spitak. More than 21,000 residences were destroyed and 700,000 people in northern Armenia were affected by this event. Photo: C.J. Langer, U.S. Geological Survey.
Damage to Sugar Beet Refinery, Spitak, Armenia
Damage to Sugar Beet Refinery, Spitak, Armenia Sugar beet refinery northwest of Spitak. The structure is of masonry and concrete-frame construction. It is located on alluvium near the surface trace of the fault. The facility had many steel-frame and masonry bearing-wall buildings that lost their cladding but remained standing. Photo: C.J. Langer, U.S. Geological Survey.
Damage to Flour Mill Complex, Spitak, Armenia
Damage to Flour Mill Complex, Spitak, Armenia Large flour mill complex located on east outskirts of Spitak. The west end of the granary is shown. Rescue operations are in progress. Several people were rescued at this site after being buried for about two weeks. Photo: C.J. Langer, U.S. Geological Survey.
Damage to Granary Spitak, Armenia
Damage to Granary Spitak, Armenia Shown here is the east end of the granary in the flour mill complex east of Spitak. Grain can be seen spilling out of the collapsed concrete shear-wall structures in the foreground. In the background are cast-in-place concrete grain silos. Most such silos had only minor damage. However, overall losses at the flour mill complex were large. Photo: C.J. Langer, U.S. Geological Survey.
Damage to Communications Building, Spitak, Armenia
Damage to Communications Building, Spitak, Armenia This is the five-story communications building in Spitak. It is a pre-cast, concrete-frame composite structure. A portion of the frame is still standing on the back side of the building. The corner of the building that remains standing was further destroyed by fire that spread between floors following the earthquake. Pre-cast frame buildings were common in… Photo: C.J. Langer, U.S. Geological Survey.
Partial Collapse of Masonry Building, Spitak, Armenia
Partial Collapse of Masonry Building, Spitak, Armenia Partially collapsed five-story stone masonry building in Spitak. Such unreinforced buildings were all heavily damaged in Spitak, but in Leninakan many survived with little or no damage. Photo: C.J. Langer, U.S. Geological Survey.
Partial Destruction of Masonry Building, Spitak, Armenia
Partial Destruction of Masonry Building, Spitak, Armenia Partial destruction of five-story stone masonry bearing-wall building in Spitak. Photo: C.J. Langer, U.S. Geological Survey.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

More

Significant earthquakes of 1988The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1988Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history

Sources

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 5184.