Why did the 1988 Armenian earthquake (in the Armenian Republic, then part of the former Soviet Union) result in an estimated 25,000 deaths?

The quake hit at rush hour; thousands of motorists were killed when freeways collapsed.

The buildings were constructed on unconsolidated, water-saturated, lakebeds and foundation failures were common.

Numerous, poorly constructed, top heavy, concrete slab buildings collapsed.

The area was densely populated and right at the epicenter of a magnitude 8.5 quake.

Respuesta :

The correct answer is C. Numerous, poorly constructed, top heavy, concrete slab buildings collapsed.

Explanation:

The 1988 Armenian earthquake occurred in the northern part of Armenia that belongs to a seismic belt. This earthquake had a magnitude of 6.8 and lasted only about 20 seconds, despite this the Earthquake was devastating to the zone as many buildings collapsed as this lead to more than 25,000 deaths. This occurred because during this period most of the buildings were poorly constructed as the structures were not stable or follow basic construction principles and they included heavy materials such as concrete or slab, due to this, once the earthquake hit them they collapsed. Thus, the reason the 1988 American earthquake result in around 25,000 deaths was "numerous, poorly constructed, top-heavy, concrete slab buildings collapsed".

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