Following the devastating 1988 Spitak earthquake which killed around 25,000 people and made half a million homeless in Armenia, SOS Children's Villages decided to offer immediate aid to the children who had lost their parents. A short while later, the organisation started working on a permanent basis in Kotayk, just outside the area that had been destroyed. Since then, SOS Children's Villages has continued to support children, young people and families, and it is now present in three locations.