I will never forget December 7th, 1988. On this day, the Spitak earthquake took away more than 25,000 lives, and 150,000 were injured. So many towns and villages were affected or destroyed. I will never forget 11:41 local time when it happened. I still can hear the sound that the ground made at that time. I was in Yerevan, but because the earthquake in Spitak was one of the strongest and devastating, we felt it in Yerevan.
The night before the earthquake, my mom and I landed in Yerevan after being hidden in Azerbaijan for more than ten days. I didn’t know if I would survive or be killed, until my plane landed in Armenia’s territory. It was late and a rainy night when our plane landed. When I understood that I survived, I dropped to my knees and kissed the Armenian land. I was crying, happy, but still had trouble believing that I survived and was safe.
My grandmother was waiting for us. Because I was still in survivor mode, the peace of the house looked unreal, and I literally could not hear anything. I went to bed happy and believing that everything bad was behind us.
In the morning, when we woke up, my grandma made breakfast. After that, we decided to go outside to the store. Then 11:41 AM happened. My grandmother was holding her hands up putting her dress on, and at this second, the building started shaking! We heard the” earth cry.”
I yelled to my mom and grandmom, “Run,” and we did run. We were living on the 8th floor and using the stairs we reached the six floor when all stopped. During this short time, so many people in Spitak and surrounding areas lost their lives. So many people lost their loved ones, homes, and everything.
In Yerevan, we were scared to go back to our apartments/homes for so many months because of aftershocks.
The entire world was shocked by what happened in Spitak. So many nations came to help. Armenian people will be forever grateful for that.
Today marked 33 years since the Spitak Earthquake. I remember that day, I remember the innocent victims, and I pray that it will never happen again.