The purpose of The Spitak Earthquake compilation– which was developed as a cooperative effort between centers in Russia and the United States–is to provide seismologists around the world with a complete set of data for the devastating earthquake that occurred in Armenia on December 7, 1988. This set consists of textual and graphical information about the earthquake and a user manual that discusses the data and explains how to use the access software to display and obtain useful information.
The 1988 Armenian earthquake is unique both in catastrophic effects and in study coverage. Research groups from the former U.S.S.R., U.S.A., France, and Japan studied the earthquake area. The International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) Commission of the IASPEI has undertaken creation of the Spitak Earthquake of 1988 database to make the enormous amount of data obtained by these research groups available to the global scientific community.
This project involves several diverse geophysical and computer science challenges. The resulting database contains practically all material relevant to the Spitak earthquake and its aftereffects. It also includes the geological and geophysical information collected during the years prior to the event, important for understanding the event. It is the first database that contains a complete, integrated description of a catastrophic earthquake.