Mr. Kurkjian, former Washington Bureau Chief and Founder of Investigative Column Spotlight, The Boston Globe, talked about the 1988 Spitak earthquake and the relief efforts that came after it, and commented on the importance of that within the Aurora context. “Someone gave me an assignment and asked me to write about the response to the earthquake, the relief effort, the humanitarian relief effort, and the more I wrote about it, the more I saw it being relevant to Aurora,” he said.
The Spitak earthquake occurred on December 7, 1988. Between 25,000 and 50,000 were killed and up to 130,000 were injured. One hundred and thirteen countries sent substantial amounts of humanitarian aid in the form of rescue equipment, search teams and medical supplies, but private donations and assistance from non-governmental organizations also had a large part of the international effort.
After the lecture the members of the audience got a chance to ask the world-known journalist their questions about the humanitarian response to this terrible tragedy, as well as inquire about his own professional choices and career advice.
You can watch the full video with the lecture below (in English).