Under the Bolsheviks , Alexandropol was renamed Leninakan in 1924 , after the deceased Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin . Shirak became a major industrial region within the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic . Leninakan was the second-largest city , after the capital Yerevan . However , Shirak , and particularly Leninakan , suffered major damage during the 1988 Armenian earthquake which devastated many parts of northern Armenia . The earthquake occurred along a known thrust fault with a length of . Its strike was parallel to the Caucasus range and dipped to the north-northeast
1988 Armenian earthquake
1988 Armenian earthquake
Shirak Province