1988 Armenia Earthquake. II: Damage Statistics versus Geologic and Soil Profiles

This is a companion paper dealing with engineering aspects of the surface‐wave magnitude ${M_s}^{\approx }$ 6.8 1988 Armenia earthquake. The first paper, by the same writers and in the same journal issue, provides an overview of the seismological, geological, geotechnical, and structural aspects of the earthquake. The present paper offers building‐damage statistics in the cities of Leninakan and Kirovakan, Armenia. These statistics are qualitatively correlated to the soil profiles to assess the potential importance of any soil amplification effects. The results indicate that in Leninakan, located in a very wide valley, the soil had some effect but could not have been solely responsible for the tremendous damage in the city. In Kirovakan, the soil profiles vary significantly within the city. Damage was primarily within a limited region where there is a valley filled with stiff clays and having width‐to‐maximum‐depth ratio of approximately 5:1. In this region, 74% of the buildings collapsed or were heavily damaged. Two subsequent papers by the present writers, in the following month's issue of the journal, describe theoretical analyses of soil amplification in Leninakan and Kirovakan. The results of these analyses are used to determine if current state‐of‐practice procedures could explain the damage statistics and their local and geographic distribution described in the present paper.