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Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan paid a visit to Gyumri for the 28th anniversary of the devastating earthquake of 1988. The head of government along with cabinet members and public figures laid wreaths at the victims’ memorials in Gyumri, paying homage with a minute’s silence.

To remind, today is the 28th tragic anniversary of one of the worst natural disasters in our contemporary history - the catastrophic Spitak earthquake.

On December 7, 1988 at 11:41 am local time (07:41 UTC/GMT), an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale took hit the north of Armenia. The epicenter was in the city of Spitak and surrounding villages. The magnitude in Spitak was 10; Gyumri, 9; Stepanavan, 9; Vanadzor, 8–9; and Yerevan, 6. The total zone of the disaster covered 3k sq. meters, hitting in total 21 towns and districts, 343 villages.\

According to official data, the quake killed 25,000 people, 20,000 people received various bodily injuries and left 514, 000 homeless, while the value of material losses were estimated to be at $10 billion.