The National Assembly on Wednesday observed a minute of silence to honor the memory of the victims of the  catastrophic earthquake that hit Armenia in 1988.

This devastating earthquake occurred on December 7, 1988, at 11:41am local time. Spitak town, the epicenter of this tremor, was almost completely leveled to the ground. Armenia’s second largest city, Gyumri—Leninakan,  at the time—and third largest city, Vanadzor—Kirovakan, at the time also suffered great destruction and many human casualties. According to official figures, the disaster claimed around 25 thousand lives, about 140 thousand people were injured, and close to 530 thousand others were left homeless.