Urban Media Archive
Укр
Center for Urban History
6 Bohomoltsia Str. Lviv 79005, Ukraine

The Spitak earthquake

Videos and films

ID:
64156
Place
Yerevan (Armenia)
Date:
1988
Genre:
Amateur film
Technique:
8mm film
Duration:
0:22:06 min
Color:
color
Sound:
Silent
Creator
Mykhailo Banakh
Copyright
Mykhailo Banakh
Collection
Mykhailo Banakh
Description
The film contains footage of the aftermath of the earthquake in Yerevan. 

1) 00:00:01 - 00:11:30 — Tent headquarters for dealing with the aftermath of the Spitak earthquake, which occurred on 7 December 1988 in Armenia. Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs officials leaving the tent. Men with a saw. Portraits of those missing in the earthquake on a fence. A destroyed house. A donkey in harness. Police officers. A crowd of people moving through the city. A VAZ-2101 car under the rubble. City Department of Internal Affairs. Tent headquarters. Destruction and clearing of debris. Employees of the Department of Internal Affairs, including Mikhail Galustyan. Ruins of public and residential buildings. Lenin Square with armoured personnel carriers and a tank. Memorial plaque to Alexander Spendiaryan on his house-museum. A crowd of people near a truck. The Cascade architectural and monumental complex. A crowd on the streets of the city. Men near tents with shovels. Ruins of a building. Remains of personal belongings, private photo archives. Clearing debris with cranes. Destroyed buildings on Lenin Square. A mountain of coffins. "I was sent to Armenia to investigate cases of an interethnic nature. At that time, there were interethnic clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. An earthquake struck, and we were reassigned. We lived in tents, which we heated with Afghan cauldrons at -20 degrees, and had to prevent looting near the rubble. Now I wonder how the KGB allowed me to film. Perhaps because I was in uniform with a camera. There were theories about the artificial nature of the earthquake — that it was a test of seismic weapons at a military base in Gyumri." Comment by Mykhailo Banakh. 

2) 00:11:31 - 00:18:19 — Interior Ministry officials near the tent headquarters. Clearing debris in the central part of Yerevan. Victims near bonfires. A group of Interior Ministry officials. Panorama of the tent headquarters. Coffins on the square under the Christmas tree. Clearing debris with cranes. Officials and victims warming themselves near bonfires. Ruins of a residential building and empty coffins next to it. "If the coffin had a stone on the lid, it meant that there was a person inside." Commentary by Mikhail Banakh. 

3) 00:18:21 - 00:18:19 — Monument to David of Sasun. Christmas tree market. TV tower. The "Russia" cinema. Passers-by on winter streets. Mother Armenia above the cityscape. Panoramas of streets. Cascade. Monument to Alexander Tamanian. Entrance to the covered market. On the way to the airport. Aeroflot planes.
Language:
Russian, Armenian
Tags:
earthquake, victims, destruction, coffin, tent, headquarters, crowd, city, monument, architecture, modernism, airport, airplane
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