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Speaker of the Artsakh National Assembly Artur Tovmasyan on Wednesday visited the Stepanakert Memorial to pay homage to the victims of the catastrophic 1988 earthquake in Armenia on the 34th anniversary of the tragedy.

Afterwards, the speaker laid flowers at the Stepanakert military pantheon to pay respects to the memory of those killed in the Artsakh wars, the parliament press office reported.

He was accompanied by Deputy Speaker Gagik Baghunts and other MPs.

The 6.8 magnitude quake struck northern Armenia early on December 7, 1988, killing more than 25,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. Its epicenter was near Spitak, a town of 25,000 inhabitants, which was razed to the ground. Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri (Leninakan), the towns of Stepanavan and Kirovakan were also hit hard.