On December 7, 1988, the Armenian town of Spitak was abruptly thrust into a catastrophe that almost destroyed it in a matter of minutes. The sudden devastation began at 11:41 in the morning when a powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck, with an epicenter just three miles outside of town. The quake, a force felt as far as Turkey and Iran, obliterated a large part of the town, claiming thousands of lives. Then, just minutes after the first quake, a second earthquake struck nearby, measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale.

Between the two earthquakes, a staggering 60,000 lives were lost, and almost every building in the town was reduced to rubble. An eight-mile-long crack in the earth, several feet wide, was opened up by the quakes. The sheer scale of the destruction was awe-inspiring, and a big part of the reason why the earthquakes were so devastating was that the epicenters were so close to the surface, subjecting the things on the surface to even more shaking than could otherwise be expected.

Another reason why these quakes inflicted such catastrophic damage was the use of cheap, substandard construction in buildings throughout the town. The avoidable shoddy work and materials made even large buildings easy to bring down. Many of them had heavy stone or brick roofs, which did a lot of damage when they started to fall apart. Also, many buildings were tall, making them easier to topple.

Finally, the response to the quake was severely bungled, as well. Response teams were not permitted to enter the town until long after the earthquake due to the fear of aftershocks and the lack of preparedness. All foreigners, including foreign relief workers, were also ordered out of the city, delaying much-needed aid.

Today, the town of Spitak has been rebuilt and repopulated. Significant changes were made to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again in construction methods and materials used. The focus shifted towards earthquake-resistant designs and materials, such as reinforced concrete and steel. Height limits were also placed on all buildings to ensure their stability during seismic events.