The earthquake that occurred on August 12 at 02:02 AM caused damage to the village of Vardadzor in Gegharkunik region.

Administrative head Maksim Avetisyan told Iravaban.net that residential houses were damaged.

“There’s a lot of material damage. Many houses have developed cracks, but we don’t have any collapses. State institutions have also been damaged,” he said.

According to Maksim Avetisyan, there was mild panic among the population, and they stayed outside for about an hour.

In the village of Tsaqkar in Gegharkunik region, the Holy Mother of God Church (chapel) built in 1878-1884 was damaged. The acting administrative head, Santur Khachatryan, told Iravaban.net that the crack on the church has deepened and a few stones have fallen.

“Four families’ houses built in the 1960s have been damaged, with slight cracks. At night, naturally, people panicked and became afraid,” he noted.

Lichk community’s administrative head Hrayr Harutyunyan also said that several residential houses were damaged, particularly with cracks appearing on the walls: “There are residents who have already approached us to report damages, an old wall has collapsed. There’s no particularly serious damage. The earthquake was felt quite strongly in our area.”

Ararat Safaryan, the administrative head of Dzoragyugh village in Gegharkunik region, told us in a conversation that cracks have appeared on several houses, but there are no collapses.

“Some people were outside, and when it calmed down, they went home,” he noted.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations’ Seismic Protection Territorial Service has reported that the probability of a strong earthquake threat is low, but weak aftershocks are possible in the focal zone.

It was felt in Gegharkunik region at 5 magnitude, in Kotayk region at 4 magnitude, and in Yerevan city at 2-3 magnitude. The earthquake was followed by 10 aftershocks smaller than 1 magnitude (as of 10:00 AM on August 12).

The earthquake’s epicenter is located in the active fault zone of Gavarraget and Geghama. Known historical strong earthquakes in this zone occurred in 1226 and 1322 with M=6.0 and M=6.5 respectively. The highest magnitude earthquake in the instrumental period occurred on December 9, 1992, with M=5.0.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations’ Seismic Protection Territorial Service is conducting round-the-clock seismic monitoring of Armenia and adjacent territories. Data received from observation stations are processed and interpreted. The current seismic hazard is periodically assessed. At this moment, the probability of a strong earthquake threat is low, but weak aftershocks are possible in the focal zone, which may be felt by the population.