Spitakseism.info
Սպիտակի երկրաշարժի 20-ամյակի առթիվ

SPITAK TRAGEDY SHOULD NOT HAPPEN AGAIN
(On the assessment of the Spitak Earthquake)

Editors: E. Khachyan (Chairman), T. Margaryan, S. Karapetyan, G. Azizyan

Preface
Introduction
Section 1. Main Engineering-and-Seismological Parameters and Social-and-Economic
Consequences of the Earthquake

1.1. Main parameters of the Spitak earthquake occurred on December 7, 1988 (E. Khachyan)
1.2. Geotechnical consequence of the earthquake (R. Haroutyunyan)
1.3. Social-and-economic consequences of the earthquake (A. Alexanyan, S. Kotolikyan, R. Balayan)
1.4. International solidarity and aid for the earthquake zone rehabilitation (A. Alexanyan, S. Kotolikyan, R. Balayan)

Section 2. Engineering Analysis of the Earthquake Consequences, Drawbacks of the Codes and Design Solutions

The year 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of Spitak`s earthquake. In the memory of Armenian people that earthquake is remembered as having the hardest consequences for the newly independent Armenia. The huge material and human losses were not only consequences of the unprecedented power of the natural disaster, but also of other mistakes that were made in the sphere of earthquake engineering.

Scientific researchs about Spitak`s earthquake and its consequences were accomplished not only by many Armenian specialists, but also by a large number of researchers from different foreign countries. In Armenian as well as in Russian, English and French languages many articles and books have been published where different questions related to Spitak`s earthquake were discussed from various perspectives. For the 10th anniversary of the disaster a book entitled "The tragedy of Spitak shall never repeat again" was published in Russian. However, till now no Armenian web site has been created where one could find summerized all the materials on Spitak`s earthquake which had been spread all over the world.

The aim of our web site is first to gather all the scientific sources concerning the Spitak`s earthquake and why not some rhetorical, statistical or any other kind of material. The web site will cover all the earthquakes that had occurred in the Armenian highland and which had been described by Armenian historiographers as well as the earthquakes that took place in the neighbouring lands of historic Armenia. Some space will be devoted to the data about destructive earthquakes as well as to the world experience in the sphere of earthquake engineering.