Paul Goble
Staunton, Dec. 7 – Thirty-four years ago, Armenia was hit by one of the worst earthquakes in its history or the history of the world. Some estimate that more than 100,000 people were killed, new fewer than 500,000 were left homeless, and more than 140,000 left crippled.
The Armenian diaspora and governments and people around the world sought to provide assistance, although the Soviet government of Mikhail Gorbachev tried to restrict what was known about the tragedy, even though Gorbachev himself got credit for rushing home from the US three days after the earthquake with an epicenter at Spitak struck.
The Spitak earthquake remains a deep scar on Armenia, something its citizens remember every year with sadness and some bitterness given how little the Soviet government did to help them recover and how difficult it has been for Armenia to cope with the consequences since becoming independent (realtribune.ru/armyane-vspominajut-zhertv-zemletryaseniya-1988-goda).
Far more needs to be done to help those who survived to recover; and at the same time, everyone needs to honor the memory of those who suffered and died. On a personal note, the author of these lines remains very proud that after the earthquake he worked with Armenian-American activist Ed Alexander to provide Yerevan with census data about the region.
Moscow had withheld such data from the Armenian authorities not wishing them to know just how many people had died. Indeed, Russia has continued to lowball the death toll from the earthquake at a still horrific 26,000. But with it – and it was on file at the US Library of Congress – those involved in the rescue operation were better able to search for survivors.
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