December 7, 1988: A day to remember in natural disaster history

Here is another "Day to Remember" blog that I almost shamefully forgot to type.

December 7, 1988, 11.41am, Earthquake Armenia:

In 40 seconds, two violent earth tremors destroyed 80% of the buildings in the town of Spitak and the nearby city of Leninakan (now Gyumn) in northern Armenia.

It left 25,000 dead - tho-thirds were children - and 15,000 injured.

Most of the victims were buried under rubble when poorly constructed Soviet-style concrete buildings collapsed.