Then how was it covered in the press? For example, Moscow newspapers come, and what did we read in them about the misfortune of thousands of people? Yes, almost nothing was said, so, in streamlined tones. Everything, even the grief of people, was under a great ban, everything was hidden, turned into a great secret. And these documents were under the heading "Secret".
Everyone has heard about the deadly tsunamis in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, but few people know that our country also fell victim to this natural disaster. On November 5, 1952, a strong earthquake occurred near the Kuril Islands, which resulted in a tsunami with 18-meter waves.
The city of Severo-Kurilsk, located on the island of Paramushir, took the entire blow of the elements. Until 1952, most of the city was located right on the coast, in a natural valley. Tsunamis in these parts, unfortunately, are not uncommon, but the city was absolutely unprepared for an element of this magnitude. Moreover, at that time there was no reliable information about what a tsunami is and how to behave in such cases.
First, the first wave hit Severo-Kurilsk, the height of which, according to experts, reached 15-18 meters. It happened at 5 am local time. People ran out of their houses in panic, and many managed to get to the high ground. But they did not know that in no case should they return back after the wave recedes into the sea. After the first wave, the second, more destructive, always comes, and after it the third.
The inhabitants who went downstairs were covered by the second wave, which arrived 20-30 minutes later. This, according to experts, was the reason for this a large number of victims. Only according to official data, on that terrible November day, the city of Severo-Kurilsk lost 2,300 people. In total, about 6,000 people lived in the city at that time. The military took part in the aftermath of the tsunami. On the same day, warm clothes were delivered from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, people were provided with medical assistance and food was organized.
The infrastructure of the city was completely destroyed. It was decided not to restore fish processing enterprises, a pier, residential buildings, social facilities and a military camp. The damage was too great. The city was rebuilt, and in the place where Severo-Kurilsk was located today there is a port. This terrible event was classified, it was not written about in the newspapers and was not broadcast on the radio. The tragedy of Severo-Kurilsk was openly discussed only in the 1990s.
After the horror suffered, the country's leadership thought about creating a reliable earthquake and tsunami warning system. First of all, this concerned the Pacific region. Kurile Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, Sakhalin Island - all of them belong to the territory of the Pacific Ring of Fire. This is the name of the region located on the periphery Pacific Ocean and characterized by increased seismic activity. It's all about the lithospheric plates, on the boundaries of which earthquakes regularly occur. The Pacific plate in this regard is one of the most active on the planet, and its boundaries are even highlighted in a special zone, called the Pacific ring of fire by geophysicists. 
More than 60 years have passed since the catastrophe in Severo-Kurilsk. Today, about 2,500 people live here, mainly employed in the fishing industry. The city was rebuilt, and only the monument of memory does not let you forget about that terrible day.
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According to a number of archival sources on that tragic night in the Northern Kuriles 2336 people died.
The following are eyewitness accounts and excerpts from documents that quite fully describe the dramatic events of 1952.
"A. Y. Mesis:.. What did I see then and what do I remember? Here, for example, the ascent to the volcanoes begins, they stand steeply, and in this direction there is a flat area. The Japanese had an airfield on it - a wooden flooring made of beams for aircraft. Our those bars pulled apart. The military had something here, they lived in houses and a few civilians. The wave came here already weakened, it bought a lot of people, but there were no dead ... it seemed.
And here, behind this toe, - high cliffs, at low tide they walked along the shore to Kataoko (Baikovo), at high tide - only along the upper path. But then there were many buildings right on the shore. There were piers here, small military and fishing boats moored to them. And we came here more than once to refuel fresh water- so many people died here.
And here is another place. Also the coast, low. Here, on the ocean side, there were about two battalions of soldiers, as they say, on the border ... And just imagine - night, the time of the deepest sleep. And - a sudden blow of a giant wave. All the barracks and buildings were destroyed in an instant, the guys were swept up in the water ... And who could be saved, and how long the survivor, undressed, can hold out in cold water - after all, November. On the shore, it was even difficult to kindle a fire, to warm up - not everyone succeeded.
I remember that in Korsakov, in the commission that dealt with the accommodation of victims of a natural disaster, they called a preliminary figure - 10 thousand people. They thought so many died. Well, then they began to speak differently: less than a thousand, and half a thousand. When only in Severo-Kurilsk alone, much more could die ... Actually, it is still unknown how many victims actually were in that terrible element .... 
Now in front of me military map(dvukhverstka), now it is declassified. Here is the island of Shumshu, the strait, here is a low coast, people lived on it, here the height is about 30 meters above sea level, then again - downhill, hilly. One cannery stood here, another one there, in the same area there was a shop, a radio station, a ship-hull shop, and warehouses for a fish farm. And over there stood the Kozyrevsky fish processing plant. And on the mountain - then people called it Dunkin's navel - there was a monitoring and communication service.
And in this direction there was a wave blow. When she went into the sea, perhaps, she was 20 meters high, and when she wedged herself into a narrow place, and even at such a monstrous speed, naturally, she reared up and in some places, perhaps, reached 35 meters in height. I have already said how the plant was demolished before my eyes. It was the same with others. And with all the buildings that fell under her wild might...
People, when we told them: get on the seiner, first of all, children, women and the elderly, we will leave, - people walked past the corpses in a chain, recognized their relatives and were silent, ossified, as if not understanding anything, - horror paralyzed their consciousness to such an extent, that they couldn't even cry. On the deck were placed - mostly sat - 50-65 people. And we went to the ship.
In the morning, several steamships already appeared in the roadstead and there were ships on their way to us - from the ocean, in total, 10 units or more. These are ours. But the Americans were also approaching - a warship and merchant ships. They offered their services, but they were refused. Firstly, they do nothing for free, and secondly, they considered that their ships would be enough to evacuate people.
And so for four days there was a search for people at sea and their delivery to ships. And on the shore, when we entered the bucket for the third or fourth time to transport a new batch of victims, the corpses had already been removed, and a not so terrible picture appeared before the eyes of people. People were already more organized, somewhat calmer, some were dressed in what they had dropped from planes, others had collected bundles with some food ...
In Severo-Kurilsk, the very first wave destroyed a significant part of the buildings and, rolling back, claimed many casualties. And the second shaft, which collapsed after about 20-25 minutes, was of such enormous destructive power that it tore off multi-ton objects.
The whole city was carried out with a mass of debris along with people into the strait, then they were carried back and forth, it was that already on the third day people were removed from the roofs of destroyed houses; these were Japanese wooden houses, solidly made, they could squint under the influence of forces, move, but fell apart completely slowly, difficultly ...
And in the wind, in the snowfall that began shortly after the tsunami, the woman was carried on the roof, on the third day we took her off. Naturally, all this time she tried in every possible way to resist, her fingernails were torn off, her elbows and knees were beaten to the bone. And when we filmed it, it kept clinging to this roof. And where is it, how else can you help?
A destroyer was nearby. For some reason, military sailors were not allowed to board civil ships, we still approached him, the watch officer waved: "Step back!". I shouted to him that we had a very seriously wounded woman, she must be taken to the infirmary. A senior officer came out and ordered: "Take mooring lines!" We approached, abandoned the mooring lines, and then the sailors with a stretcher came running ...
And on the very first morning after this flood, as soon as dawn broke, planes flew in from Petropavlovsk, and those people who had managed to climb the hills from the wave, those people were half-dressed - some in what - some wet. Well, they began to throw off warm clothes, blankets, and food. It certainly helped people a lot.
All night long bonfires burned on the hills, people warmed themselves near them, down to where they still lived yesterday, they were afraid to go down. What if again? .. Especially since they announced: they say, there may be more waves and even more. But fortunately, there were no new waves.
The one and only combine that completely survived the elements is the one that stood in Shelikhov Bay, from the side Sea of Okhotsk, he remained completely unharmed, except for the fact that the water wet him, that's all.
But in general, the tragedy was very big, monstrous, one can neither speak nor write about such a casual thing. One has only to remember her again, as more and more new people and terrible pictures rise before her eyes.
After all, it was before the holiday - before November 7th. But there, in the Kuriles, not like in big cities, preparations for the holiday were almost imperceptible - there people usually prepared for a long winter. Stored food. For example, I had plywood barrels with egg powder and milk powder at home. Of course, there were fish. You need meat, well, so he went, he took the whole carcass of a ram. Fruit was also never bought in kilograms, usually - a box, two, or even more. It was difficult to stock up on vegetables, but they were stocked up, as best they could, from the ships that came to us. But on holidays, of course, there would be more free time. And there would be a general booze ... If such a disaster happened on holidays, there would be much more victims.
It's already late, as they say, a lot of time has passed, but it is necessary to tell and write about that tragedy - there are still eyewitnesses of that element in some places. And I almost never see my acquaintances then. In Nevelsk, if he didn’t leave, Korbut lives here - the foreman of the divers for the repair of the underwater part of the ships. Then in Chekhov - Kost, a Greek, also an eyewitness to this. Polishchuk - senior assistant, died.
Then how was it covered in the press? For example, Moscow newspapers come, and what did we read in them about the misfortune of thousands of people? Yes, almost nothing was said, so, in streamlined tones. Everything, even the grief of people, was under a great ban, everything was hidden, turned into a great secret. And these documents were under the heading "Secret".
We, the victims, were officially given assistance so that we could go to the mainland. And many left here, another part left and returned, and the majority settled in different cities and settlements of Sakhalin. Those who quickly left for the mainland did not receive wages for the last period. I received my salary only in mid-December. This, and me, and many, probably, somehow kept. They also gave out a lot of clothes, both new and worn.
In Voroshilov (now Ussuriysk), they even envied us, who were temporarily transferred there: we ate free of charge, they brought us goods, we bought some, others were given to us free of charge as material assistance. The local population began to look askance at us: they say that they cannot buy anything, but all new goods come to us; We were even taken on trains back and forth for free. Those who returned to Sakhalin were also provided with housing. Yes, here's another interesting detail. Our parents on the mainland received letters from us from Voroshilov and immediately wrote themselves: what happened, why did you end up there? That is, on the mainland, they had no idea at all what happened at the end of the earth, in the east.
And the assistance to the victims at that time was significant - in the range of 3-3.5 thousand rubles. There, in the Kuriles, some lived in dormitories, they had nothing but the clothes they were wearing. And then friends gathered in the role of witnesses and let's say to the commission: they say, he had that and that. One, for example, kept telling everyone that on the island he had a leather coat, leather gloves, everything, they say, was swept into the sea. Well, I got three thousand and actually began to walk around in a leather coat, and put on leather gloves with long fingers, and unthinkable shoes. They called him a parrot, but he achieved his goal.
But this is so, a trifle. But there, on the land of grief, there was also looting ... For example, when we were already in Voroshilov, we also had one from the ocean fish factory, as expected, received help and began to buy things in stores, but everything is more expensive, and gold and silver . They paid attention to her, tracked what she was buying. Well, of course, they made inquiries: I got three thousand, but bought all thirty ...
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At 4 am on November 5, 1952, a strong earthquake began in the city of Severo-Kurilsk and the region, which lasted about 30 minutes, which damaged the buildings and destroyed the stoves in the houses ...
At this time, that is, approximately 15-20 minutes after the departure of the first wave, a wave of water of even greater strength and magnitude than the first surged again. People, thinking that everything was already over (many, heartbroken by the loss of their loved ones, children and property), descended from the hills and began to settle in the surviving houses to keep warm and dress themselves. The water, meeting no resistance in its path (the first wave swept away a significant part of the buildings), rushed onto land with exceptional speed and force, completely destroying the remaining houses and buildings. This wave destroyed the entire city and killed most of the population.
Before the water of the second wave had time to descend, the water gushed for the third time and carried almost everything that was from the buildings in the city into the sea.
For 20 - 30 minutes (the time of two almost simultaneous waves of huge force) there was a terrible noise of seething water and breaking buildings in the city. Houses and roofs of houses were thrown like matchboxes and carried away to the sea. The strait separating the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu was completely filled with floating houses, roofs and other debris.
The surviving people, frightened by what was happening, in a panic, throwing their things and losing their children, rushed to run higher into the mountains.
It was about 6 am on November 5, 1952.
After that, the water began to descend and cleared the island. But minor tremors began again and most of the surviving people remained in the hills, afraid to go down. Taking advantage of this, separate groups from the civilian population and military personnel began to rob houses left on the slopes of the hills, break safes and other personal and state property scattered throughout the city ...
By order of the commander of the garrison, Major General Duka, the guards of the State Bank were taken over by Captain Kalinenkov with a group of soldiers ...
By 10 am on November 5, 1952, approximately the entire personnel was assembled. It has been established that among the employees of the regional police department there is no passport officer Korobanov V.I. with a child and secretary-typist Kovtun L.I. with child and mother. According to inaccurate information, Korobanov and Kovtun were picked up by a boat on the high seas, put on a steamer and sent to the city of Petropavlovsk. The wives of policemen Osintsev and Galmutdinov died. Of the 22 people held in the penitentiary, 7 people escaped...
On November 6, a commission was organized at the party and economic asset to evacuate the population, supply it with food and clothing ... An order was given to the commander of the department, Matveenko, to immediately collect the rank and file ... However, most of the personnel left the assembly place without permission and by the evening of November 6 got on the steamer "Whalen" ...
A natural disaster completely destroyed the building of the police department, the bullpen, the stable... The total loss is 222.4 thousand rubles.
All the documentation of the regional department, seals, stamps ... were washed away into the sea ... Taking advantage of the natural disaster, the military personnel of the garrison, having drunk alcohol, cognac and champagne scattered around the city, began to engage in looting ...
On November 5, 1952, after the destruction, a safe was found in the Okeansky fish processing plant, in which there were 280 thousand rubles belonging to the plant ... The seafarers of the Ocean Plant ... broke into the safe and stole 274 thousand rubles ...
In the Babushkino and Kozyrevskoye fish processing plants, at the time of the natural disaster, military personnel stole a large number of inventory items belonging to fish farmers.
According to the facts, the military personnel informed the command for taking action.
Senior Lieutenant of State Security P.M.Deryabin
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1. From the special report of the head of the North Kuril police department on the natural disaster - the tsunami that occurred in the North Kuril region on November 5, 1952 (Local history bulletin N 4, 1991 of the Sakhalin Regional Museum of Local Lore and the Sakhalin Branch of the All-Russian Cultural Fund.)
At 4 am on November 5, 1952, a strong earthquake began in the city of Severo-Kurilsk and the region, which lasted about 30 minutes, which damaged the buildings and destroyed the stoves in the houses.
Minor fluctuations were still going on when I went to the district police department to check the damage to the building of the regional department and especially the pre-trial detention cell, in which 22 people were kept on November 5 ...
On the way to the regional department, I observed cracks in the ground ranging in size from 5 to 20 cm wide, formed as a result of an earthquake. Arriving at the regional department, I saw that the building was broken into two halves by the earthquake, the stoves were scattered, the duty squad ... were in place ...
At this time, there were no more shocks, the weather was very calm ... Before we had time to reach the regional department, we heard a great noise, then crackling from the sea. Looking back, we saw a great height of a wave of water advancing from the sea to the island. Since the regional department was located at a distance of 150 m from the sea, and the detention center was about 50 m from the sea, the detention center immediately became the first victim of water ... I gave the order to open fire from personal weapons and shout: "Water is coming!", while retreating to the hills. Hearing the noise and screams, people began to run out of the apartments in what they were dressed (most in underwear, barefoot) and run into the hills.
After about 10-15 minutes, the first wave of water began to descend, and some people went to their homes to collect their surviving things.
I, with a group of my workers, went to the regional department to clarify the situation and save the survivor. Approaching the place, we did not find anything, there was a clean place ...
At this time, that is, approximately 15-20 minutes after the departure of the first wave, a wave of water of even greater strength and magnitude than the first surged again. People, thinking that everything was already over (many, heartbroken by the loss of their loved ones, children and property), descended from the hills and began to settle in the surviving houses to keep warm and dress themselves. The water, meeting no resistance in its path (the first wave swept away a significant part of the buildings), rushed onto land with exceptional speed and force, completely destroying the remaining houses and buildings. This wave destroyed the entire city and killed most of the population...
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2. Certificate from the Deputy Chief of the Sakhalin Regional Police Department on the results of a trip to the disaster area
On November 6, 1952, by order of the head of the Sakhalin Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Colonel of State Security Comrade Smirnov, together with members of the commission of the regional committee of the CPSU, flew to the North Kuril region. (1)
During the period of his stay in the North Kuril region from November 8 to December 6, 1952, from conversations with the affected population, party and Soviet and scientific workers, as well as as a result of personal observations and studies of places subjected to flooding and destruction, he established that on November 5, 1952 At 3:55 a.m., an earthquake of great destructive force occurred on the islands of the Kuril chain, including Paramushir, Shumshu, Alaid and Onekotan. The cause of the earthquake, as scientists explain, was the constant pressure of the earth's crust of the mainland to the east. Due to the fact that the bottom of the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk consists of a hard basalt rock that can withstand this titanic stress, the failure occurred in the weakest place (in terms of structure seabed) in the Pacific Ocean, in the so-called Tuskorora Basin. At a depth of 7-8 thousand meters, about 200 km east of Paramushir Island, at the moment of giant compression of the basin, a sharp rise of the ocean floor (dump) occurred, possibly with a subsequent volcanic eruption that displaced a huge mass of water, which rolled in the form of a shaft and to the Kuril Islands.
As a result of the earthquake, the city of Severo-Kurilsk, the settlements of Okeanskoye, Utesnoye, Levashovo, Kamenisty, Galkino, Podgorny, etc. were destroyed and demolished by the wave. The earthquake continued with different strength several times a day during November, December and after. At one in the morning on November 16, Yuzhny volcano began to erupt. First, there were strong explosions with flashes, and then lava and ash poured from the crater of the volcano, carried by the wind for 30–50 km and covered the earth by 7–8 cm.
Judging by the explanations of eyewitnesses, the earthquake began like this: on November 5, 1952, at 3:55 a.m., the inhabitants of Severo-Kurilsk were awakened by strong tremors, accompanied, as it were, by numerous underground explosions, reminiscent of a distant artillery cannonade. As a result of the fluctuation of the earth's crust, buildings were deformed, plaster fell from the ceiling and walls, stoves collapsed, cabinets, whatnots swayed, dishes broke, and more stable objects - tables, beds, moved along the floor from wall to wall, just like loose objects on a ship during the storm.
The tremors either with increasing or with weakening force continued for 30-35 minutes. Then there was silence. Residents of Severo-Kurilsk, accustomed to the periodic ground vibrations that had taken place and earlier, in the first minutes of the earthquake on November 5, they believed that it would quickly stop, therefore, fleeing from falling objects and destruction, they ran half-dressed into the street. The weather that night was warm, only in some places the first snow that had fallen the day before was preserved. It was an unusually moonlit night.
As soon as the earthquake stopped, the population returned to their apartments to continue sleeping, and some citizens, in order to prepare for the holiday, immediately began to repair the apartments destroyed by the earthquake, unaware of the impending danger.
At about 5 o'clock in the morning, people who were on the street heard an unusually menacing and ever-increasing noise from the sea, and at the same time - rifle shots in the city. As it turned out later, workers and the military, who were among the first to notice the movement of the wave, fired. They turned their attention to the strait. At that time, in the strait between the islands of Shumshu and Paramushir, against the background of the moonlight from the ocean, a huge water shaft was seen. He suddenly stood out quite clearly, bordered by a wide strip of foam, rapidly approaching the city of Severo-Kurilsk. It seemed to people that the island was sinking. This impression, by the way, was among the population and other villages that were flooded. Hope for salvation was determined by only a few tens of seconds. Residents of the city, who are on the street, raised a cry: "Save yourself! The water is coming!". Most of the people in underwear, barefoot, grabbing the children, rushed to the hill. Meanwhile, the water shaft has already collapsed on the coastal buildings. The city was filled with the crackling of destroyed buildings, heartbreaking cries and cries of people drowning and pursued by a water shaft running to the hill.
The first wave rolled back into the strait, taking with it many casualties and a significant part of the coastal buildings. People began to descend from the hills, began to inspect apartments, search for missing relatives. But no more than 20 - 25 minutes passed, when a noise was again heard in the direction of the ocean, which turned into a terrible roar, and an even more formidable water shaft 10 - 15 meters high again rapidly rolled along the strait. With a noise and a roar, the shaft collapsed on the northeastern ledge of Paramushir Island near the city of Severo-Kurilsk and, breaking against it, one wave rolled further along the strait in a northwestern direction, destroying coastal buildings on the Shumshu and Paramushir Islands in its path, and the other - describing the arc along North Kuril lowland in the southeast direction, fell on the city of Severo-Kurilsk, revolving furiously in a circle of depression and with rapid convulsive jerks washing away all the buildings and structures located on the ground 10-15 meters above sea level to the ground.
The power of the water shaft in its rapid movement was so enormous that small in size, but heavy in weight objects, such as: machine tools installed on rubble bases, one and a half ton safes, tractors, cars - were torn from their seats, circling in a whirlpool along with wooden objects, and then scattered over a huge area or carried away into the strait.
As an indicator of the enormous destructive power of the second wave, the example of the storeroom of the State Bank, which is a reinforced concrete block weighing 15 tons, is typical. It was torn off the rubble, 4 sq.m, base and thrown back 8 meters.
Despite the tragedy of this disaster, the vast majority of the population did not lose their heads, moreover, in the most critical moments, many nameless heroes showed sublime heroic deeds: risking their lives, they saved children, women, the elderly ... Many responsible workers, until the last minute, notifying the population of the impending danger, they themselves became victims of the elements. So, the manager of the North Kuril fish trust, a member of the district committee of the CPSU, comrade Alperin M.S., died. (2)
in saving people and state property much courage, initiative and resourcefulness were shown. For example, when the second, more formidable, wave approached the fishing village of Levashovo, the fishermen Puzachkov and Zimovin, believing that the island would flood, raised a cry: "Brothers! Save yourself on the kungas!" 18 people, men, women and children, plunged into the kungas, but not having time to take the oars, they were picked up by the ebb of the wave and carried away far into the ocean. Thanks to resourcefulness, replacing the oars with boards, on the second day they sailed to the shore. Tov. Zimovin and Puzachkov, together with their wives, actively participated in the collection of state property ...
Many captains and boat crews were actively involved in saving the population and property, and then in transporting the population from the island to the ships during significant storms without casualties. At the same time, a number of crew members showed cowardice, leaving the ships to their fate, with the first ships fled to the mainland.
And, if the majority of the population, half-dressed, with children under open sky, pierced by strong winds, rain and snow, courageously and steadfastly endured all hardships, individuals, taking advantage of a natural disaster, appropriated state values, property and hid with the first ships. Individuals, including some military personnel, engaged in looting... The military command, the population itself and the police prevented many cases of looting...
As a result of a natural disaster, an almost empty area of several square kilometers formed on the site of the city of Severo-Kurilsk, and only individual foundations of buildings demolished by a wave, roofs of houses thrown out of the strait, lonely standing monument soldiers of the Soviet Army, the rubble frame of the radio station building, the central gate of the former stadium, various state, cooperative and personal property of citizens scattered over a vast area. Especially huge destruction to the city was caused by the second rampart. The third water shaft that followed after 20 - 25 minutes was already less significant in height and strength, did not cause any damage, and there was nothing to destroy. The third shaft threw the wreckage of buildings and various property out of the strait, which partially remained on the coast of the bay.
According to preliminary data, 1,790 civilians died during the disaster, military personnel: officers - 15 people, soldiers - 169 people, family members - 14 people. Huge damage has been done to the state, calculated through the Rybolovpotrebsoyuz more than 85 million rubles. Great damage was done to the Voentorg, the military department, the city and municipal services and private individuals. (3)
Severo-Kurilsk, along with industry, institutions, housing stock, is almost completely destroyed and washed away into the sea. The population was about 6,000 people, of whom about 1,200 people died. All the corpses, with the exception of a few, are washed into the sea. A few houses remained, located on a hill, a power plant, part of the fleet and a lot of scattered property, canned goods, liquor and clothing items. The main warehouse of the North Kuril fishery and consumer union and the military trade, several dozen horses, cows and pigs belonging to unknown people have also been preserved ...
In the village of Utesny (4), all industrial facilities and buildings are completely destroyed and washed into the ocean. Only one dwelling house and a stable remained ... cigarettes, shoes, butter, cereals and other products were scattered by water; 19 head of cattle, 5 horses, 5 pigs and about 10 tons of hay. There are no human casualties - the population was about 100 people who were completely evacuated.
The village of Levashovo (5) - all enterprises, a store and a fish farm warehouse are washed into the ocean. 7 residential buildings and a tent have been preserved. The population lived 57 people, there were no victims, everyone was evacuated. There are 28 heads of cattle, 3 horses and two kungas left.
Reef village (6) - no human casualties. All production facilities and premises are destroyed and washed into the ocean. The survivors are refrigerator equipment, a central material warehouse and 41 residential buildings. The fleet was also destroyed, with the exception of 8 kungas and several wrecked boats. 37 heads of cattle, 28 pigs, 46 tons of flour, 10 tons of sugar, 5 tons of butter, 2 tons of alcohol and other inventory items worth 7-8 million rubles remained from the subsidiary farm. The entire population, more than 400 people evacuated...
Okeansky Settlement (7) - it housed a fish factory, a cannery, a caviar factory with workshops and two refrigerators, mechanical workshops, power plants, a sawmill, a school, a hospital and other government institutions. According to preliminary data, 460 people died from the disaster, 542 people survived and were evacuated. There are 32 residential buildings left, more than a hundred heads of cattle, 200 tons of flour in stacks, 8 thousand cans of scattered canned food, 3 thousand cans of milk, 3 tons of butter, 60 tons of cereals, 25 tons of oats, 30 barrels of alcohol and other valuables. All industrial enterprises and housing stock are destroyed and washed away by water into the ocean.
The village of Podgorny (8) - it housed a whale plant. All production facilities, warehouses, and almost the entire housing stock are destroyed and washed away by water into the ocean. The population lived more than 500 people, 97 people survived, who were evacuated. There are 55 houses left in the village, more than 500 poultry, 6 ten-ton cisterns and several dozen sacks of flour and other products on the site of the former warehouse.
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1. A group of senior officials headed by the First Deputy Chairman of the Sakhalin Regional Executive Committee G.F. left for the disaster site from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Skopinov.
2. Alperin Mikhail Semenovich (1900-1952) - was born in Odessa in a working class family. Worked in senior positions in fishing industry Far East and Sakhalin. A talented organizer, he devoted a lot of energy to the formation of a fish factory and plants in South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. May 7, 1952 was appointed manager of the North Kuril State Fish Trust. He died on November 5, 1952 while saving people and state property during the tsunami in the city of Severo-Kurilsk. Buried November 7th. Grave of M.S. Alperin is a monument of history and culture of the Sakhalin region.
3. The issue of casualties and other consequences of the disaster requires further study. As a result of the disaster on the islands of the North Kuril region, all fishing industry enterprises, warehouses of food and material assets, almost all institutions, cultural and community enterprises and almost 70% of the housing stock were destroyed and washed into the sea. Only the Shelekhov fish processing plant with its bases along the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk remained unscathed, where the wave height was no more than 5 meters.
4. The Utesny settlement was located 7 km from the city of Severo-Kurilsk. Excluded from credentials as locality decision of the regional executive committee N 228 of July 14, 1964
5. The Levashovo fishery was located at the exit from the Second Kuril Strait. Excluded from the registration data as a settlement by the decision of the regional executive committee N 502 of December 29, 1962.
6. The village of Rifovoye, the center of the village council of the same name. Located in Rifovaya Bay. Excluded from the records as a settlement in 1962. The Reef Fishing Plant had branches in the settlements of Coastal and Kamenisty.
7. The Okeansky settlement was the center of the village council of the same name. Here was the central base of the fish factory with branches in the villages of Galkino and Boevaya. Settlements removed from records in 1962
8. The settlement of Podgorny was excluded from the registration data by the decision of the regional executive committee N 161 of April 10, 1973.
9. The village of Shelekhovo was the center of the village council of the same name. Excluded from the registration data as a settlement by the decision of the regional executive committee N 228 of July 14, 1964.
10. The village of Savushkino was located within the city of Severo-Kurilsk. Excluded from the registration data as a settlement by the decision of the regional executive committee N 161 of April 10, 1973.
11. The village of Kozyrevskiy was the center of the village council of the same name. Excluded from the registration data as a settlement by the decision of the regional executive committee N 223 of July 24, 1985.
12. The village of Babushkino was the center of the village council of the same name. Excluded from the registration data as a settlement by the decision of the regional executive committee N 161 of April 10, 1973 ...
In Severo-Kurilsk, the expression "to live like on a volcano" can be used without quotes. There are 23 volcanoes on Paramushir Island, five of them are active. Ebeko, located seven kilometers from the city, comes to life from time to time and releases volcanic gases.
In calm weather and with a westerly wind, they reach Severo-Kurilsk - the smell of hydrogen sulfide and chlorine is impossible not to feel. Usually in such cases, the Sakhalin Hydrometeorological Center transmits a storm warning about air pollution: it is easy to get poisoned by toxic gases. Eruptions in Paramushir in 1859 and 1934 caused mass poisoning of people and the death of domestic animals. Therefore, in such cases, volcanologists urge city residents to use masks to protect their breath and filters for water purification.
The site for the construction of Severo-Kurilsk was chosen without a volcanological examination. Then, in the 1950s, the main thing was to build a city no lower than 30 meters above sea level. After the tragedy of 1952, water seemed worse than fire.
A few hours later, the tsunami wave reached the Hawaiian Islands, 3000 km from the Kuriles.
Flooding on Midway Island (Hawaii, USA) caused by the North Kuril tsunami.
Secret tsunami
The tsunami wave after the earthquake in Japan this spring has reached the Kuril Islands. Low, one and a half meters. But in the autumn of 1952 East Coast Kamchatka, the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu were on the first line of impact of the elements. The North Kuril tsunami of 1952 was one of the five largest in the history of the twentieth century.
The city of Severo-Kurilsk was destroyed. The Kuril and Kamchatka settlements of Utyosny, Levashovo, Reef, Rocky, Coastal, Galkino, Okeansky, Podgorny, Major Van, Shelekhovo, Savushkino, Kozyrevsky, Babushkino, Baikovo were swept away ...
In the autumn of 1952, the country lived an ordinary life. The Soviet press, Pravda and Izvestia, did not get a single line: neither about the tsunami in the Kuriles, nor about thousands dead people.
The picture of what happened can be restored from the memories of eyewitnesses, rare photographs.
Writer Arkady Strugatsky, who served in those years in the Kuriles as a military translator, took part in the aftermath of the tsunami. He wrote to his brother in Leningrad:
“... I was on the island of Syumusyu (or Shumshu - look for it at the southern tip of Kamchatka). What I saw, did and experienced there - I can’t write yet. I can only say that I visited the area where the disaster I wrote to you about made itself felt especially strongly.
The black island of Syumushu, the island of the wind of Syumusyu, the ocean beats into the rocks-walls of Syumushu. The one who was on Shumushu was on Shumushu that night, remembers how the ocean attacked Shumushu; As on the piers of Shumushu, and on the pillboxes of Shumushu, and on the roofs of Shumushu, the ocean collapsed with a roar; As in the dells of Shumushu, and in the trenches of Shumushu, the ocean raged in the bare hills of Shumushu. And in the morning, Syumusyu, to the walls-rocks of Syumusyu many corpses, Syumusyu, carried the Pacific Ocean. The black island of Shumushu, the island of fear of Shumushu. Who lives on Shumushu looks at the ocean.
I wove these verses under the impression of what I saw and heard. I don’t know how from a literary point of view, but from the point of view of facts, everything is correct ... "
War!
In those years, work on the registration of residents in Severo-Kurilsk was not properly established. Seasonal workers, secret military units, the composition of which was not disclosed. According to the official report, in 1952 about 6,000 people lived in Severo-Kurilsk.
82-year-old South Sakhalin resident Konstantin Ponedelnikov went with his comrades to the Kuriles in 1951 to earn extra money. They built houses, plastered walls, helped to install reinforced concrete salting vats at the fish processing plant. In those years, there were many visitors to the Far East: they arrived on recruitment, worked out the period established by the contract.
Tells Konstantin Ponedelnikov:
- It all happened on the night of November 4-5. I was still a bachelor, well, it’s a young thing, I came from the street late, already at two or three. Then he lived in an apartment, rented a room from a family fellow countryman, also from Kuibyshev. Just went to bed - what is it? The house shook. The owner shouts: get up quickly, get dressed - and go outside. He had lived there for several years, he knew what was what.
Konstantin ran out of the house, lit a cigarette. The ground shook palpably underfoot. And suddenly from the side of the shore they heard shooting, screams, noise. In the light of the ship's searchlights, people fled from the bay. "War!" they shouted. So, at least, it seemed to the guy at first. Later I realized: the wave! Water!!! Self-propelled guns went from the sea towards the hills, where the frontier post was stationed. And together with everyone, Konstantin ran after him, upstairs.
From the report of senior lieutenant of state security P. Deryabin:
“... We did not have time to reach the regional department, when we heard a great noise, then crackling from the sea. Looking back, we saw a high water shaft advancing from the sea to the island ... I gave the order to open fire from personal weapons and shout: “Water is coming!”, At the same time retreating to the hills. Hearing the noise and screams, people began to run out of the apartments in what they were dressed (most in underwear, barefoot) and run into the hills.”
Konstantin Ponedelnikov:
- Our path to the hills lay through a ditch three meters wide, where wooden walkways were laid for the transition. Next to me, panting, ran a woman with a five-year-old boy. I grabbed the child in an armful - and together with him jumped over the ditch, where only the strength came from. And the mother has already moved over the boards.
Army dugouts were located on the hill, where the exercises took place. It was there that people settled down to warm themselves - it was November. These dugouts became their refuge for the next few days.
On the site of the former Severo-Kurilsk. June 1953
three waves
After the first wave left, many went down to find the missing relatives, to release the cattle from the barns. People did not know: tsunamis have a long wavelength, and sometimes tens of minutes pass between the first and second.
From the report of P. Deryabin:
“... Approximately 15-20 minutes after the departure of the first wave, a wave of water of even greater strength and magnitude than the first surged again. People, thinking that everything was already over (many, heartbroken by the loss of their loved ones, children and property), descended from the hills and began to settle in the surviving houses to keep warm and dress themselves. The water, meeting no resistance on its way... rushed onto the land, completely destroying the remaining houses and buildings. This wave destroyed the entire city and killed most of the population.
And almost immediately the third wave swept into the sea almost everything that it could take with it. The strait separating the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu was filled with floating houses, roofs and debris.
The tsunami, which was later named after the destroyed city - "tsunami in Severo-Kurilsk" - was caused by an earthquake in the Pacific Ocean, 130 km from the coast of Kamchatka. An hour after a powerful (magnitude about 9 points) earthquake, the first tsunami wave reached Severo-Kurilsk. The height of the second, the most terrible, wave reached 18 meters. According to official figures, 2,336 people died in Severo-Kurilsk alone.
Konstantin Ponedelnikov did not see the waves themselves. At first he delivered refugees to the hill, then with several volunteers they went down and saved people for many hours, pulling them out of the water, taking them off the roofs. The real scale of the tragedy became clear later.
- He went down to the city ... We had a watchmaker there, a good guy, legless. I look: his stroller. And he himself lies there, dead. The soldiers pile the corpses on a cart and take them to the hills, there already or in mass grave, or how else they buried - God knows. And along the coast there were barracks, a sapper military unit. One foreman escaped, he was at home, and the whole company perished. A wave covered them. There was a bullpen, and there were probably people there. Maternity home, hospital... Everyone died.
From a letter from Arkady Strugatsky to his brother:
“The buildings were destroyed, the entire coast was littered with logs, fragments of plywood, pieces of hedges, gates and doors. There were two old naval artillery towers on the pier, they were placed by the Japanese almost at the end of the Russo-Japanese War. The tsunami threw them a hundred meters away. When dawn broke, those who managed to escape descended from the mountains - men and women in linen, trembling with cold and horror. Most of the inhabitants either sank or lay on the shore interspersed with logs and debris.
The evacuation of the population was carried out promptly. After a short call from Stalin to the Sakhalin Regional Committee, all nearby aircraft and watercraft were sent to the disaster area.
Konstantin, among about three hundred victims, ended up on the Amderma steamer, completely crammed with fish. For people, they unloaded half of the coal hold, threw a tarpaulin.
Through Korsakov they brought them to Primorye, where they lived for some time in a very difficult conditions. But then “at the top” they decided that recruitment contracts needed to be worked out, and they sent everyone back to Sakhalin. There was no question of any material compensation, it’s good if you could at least confirm the experience. Konstantin was lucky: his work boss survived and restored work books and passports ...
fish place
Many destroyed villages were never rebuilt. The population of the islands has been greatly reduced. The port city of Severo-Kurilsk was rebuilt in a new place, higher up. Without carrying out the same volcanological examination, so that as a result the city was in even more dangerous place- on the way of the mud flows of the Ebeko volcano, one of the most active in the Kuriles.
The life of the port of Severo-Kurilsk has always been connected with fish. The work is profitable, people came, lived, left - there was some kind of movement. In the 1970s and 80s, only loafers at sea did not earn 1,500 rubles a month (an order of magnitude more than in similar work on the mainland). In the 1990s, crab was caught and taken to Japan. But in the late 2000s, the Federal Agency for Fishery had to almost completely ban the fishing of king crab. To not disappear at all.
Today, compared to the late 1950s, the population has halved. Today, about 2,500 people live in Severo-Kurilsk - or, as the locals say, in Sevkur. Of these, 500 are under the age of 18. In the maternity ward of the hospital, 30-40 citizens of the country are born annually, whose place of birth is Severo-Kurilsk.
The fish processing factory provides the country with stocks of navaga, flounder and pollock. Approximately half of the workers are local. The rest are visitors ("verbota", recruited). They earn about 25 thousand a month.
Selling fish to fellow countrymen is not accepted here. Its a whole sea, and if you want cod or, say, halibut, you need to come to the port in the evening, where the fishing ships are unloaded, and simply ask: “Listen, brother, wrap the fish.”
Tourists in Paramushir are still only a dream. Visitors are accommodated in the "Fisherman's House" - a place that is only partly heated. True, a thermal power plant was recently modernized in Sevkur, and a new pier was built in the port.
One problem is the inaccessibility of Paramushir. More than a thousand kilometers to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, three hundred to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The helicopter flies once a week, and then on condition that the weather will be in Petrik, and in Severo-Kurilsk, and at Cape Lopatka, which ends Kamchatka. Well, if you wait a couple of days. Maybe three weeks...
Alexander Guber, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
According to the memoirs, letters and photographs of eyewitnesses
In Severo-Kurilsk, the expression "to live like on a volcano" can be used without quotation marks. There are 23 volcanoes on Paramushir Island, five of them are active. Ebeko, located seven kilometers from the city, comes to life from time to time and releases volcanic gases.
In calm weather and with a westerly wind, they reach Severo-Kurilsk - the smell of hydrogen sulfide and chlorine is impossible not to feel. Usually in such cases, the Sakhalin Hydrometeorological Center transmits a storm warning about air pollution: it is easy to get poisoned by toxic gases. Eruptions in Paramushir in 1859 and 1934 caused mass poisoning of people and the death of domestic animals. Therefore, in such cases, volcanologists urge city residents to use masks to protect their breath and filters for water purification.
The site for the construction of Severo-Kurilsk was chosen without a volcanological examination. Then, in the 1950s, the main thing was to build a city no lower than 30 meters above sea level. After the tragedy of 1952, water seemed worse than fire.
However, the information did not get into the media. It is possible to restore the course of events only from photographs of rare eyewitnesses. One of the residents of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Alexander Guber, decided to take up this issue and put together the events of those terrible days. IA SakhalinMedia shares unique material with the reader.
SECRET TSUNAMI
The tsunami wave after the earthquake in Japan reached the Kuril Islands. Low, one and a half meters. In the autumn of 1952, the eastern coast of Kamchatka, the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu were on the first line of the elements. The North Kuril tsunami of 1952 was one of the five largest in the history of the twentieth century.
The city of Severo-Kurilsk was destroyed. The Kuril and Kamchatka settlements of Utyosny, Levashovo, Reef, Rocky, Coastal, Galkino, Okeansky, Podgorny, Major Van, Shelekhovo, Savushkino, Kozyrevsky, Babushkino, Baikovo were swept away ...
In the autumn of 1952, the country lived an ordinary life. The Soviet press, Pravda and Izvestia, did not get a single line: neither about the tsunami in the Kuriles, nor about the thousands of dead people. The picture of what happened can be restored from the memories of eyewitnesses, rare photographs.
Writer Arkady Strugatsky, who served in those years in the Kuriles as a military translator, took part in the aftermath of the tsunami.
"... I was on the island of Syumusyu (or Shumshu - look for it at the southern tip of Kamchatka). What I saw, did and experienced there - I can’t write yet. I can only say that I visited the area where the disaster that I wrote to you about , made itself felt especially strongly.
The black island of Syumushu, the island of the wind of Syumusyu, the ocean beats into the rocks-walls of Syumushu. The one who was on Shumushu was on Shumushu that night, remembers how the ocean attacked Shumushu; As on the piers of Shumushu, and on the pillboxes of Shumushu, and on the roofs of Shumushu, the ocean collapsed with a roar; As in the dells of Shumushu, and in the trenches of Shumushu, the ocean raged in the bare hills of Shumushu. And in the morning, Syumusyu, to the walls-rocks of Syumusyu many corpses, Syumusyu, carried the Pacific Ocean. The black island of Shumushu, the island of fear of Shumushu. Who lives on Shumushu looks at the ocean.
I wove these verses under the impression of what I saw and heard. I don’t know how from a literary point of view, but from the point of view of facts, everything is correct ... "
WAR
In those years, work on the registration of residents in Severo-Kurilsk was not properly established. Seasonal workers, secret military units, the composition of which was not disclosed. According to the official report, in 1952 about six thousand people lived in Severo-Kurilsk.
82-year-old South Sakhalin resident Konstantin Ponedelnikov went with his comrades to the Kuriles in 1951 to earn extra money. They built houses, plastered walls, helped to install reinforced concrete salting vats at the fish processing plant. In those years, there were many visitors to the Far East: they arrived on recruitment, worked out the period established by the contract.
- Everything happened on the night of November 4-5. I was still a bachelor, well, it’s a young thing, I came from the street late, already at two or three. Then he lived in an apartment, rented a room from a family fellow countryman, also from Kuibyshev. Just went to bed - what is it? The house shook. The owner shouts: get up quickly, get dressed - and go outside. He lived there for several years, he knew what was what, - says Konstantin Ponedelnikov.
Konstantin ran out of the house, lit a cigarette. The ground shook palpably underfoot. And suddenly from the side of the shore they heard shooting, screams, noise. In the light of the ship's searchlights, people fled from the bay. "War!" they shouted. So, at least, it seemed to the guy at first. Later I realized: the wave! Water!!! Self-propelled guns went from the sea towards the hills, where the frontier post was stationed. And together with everyone, Konstantin ran after him, upstairs.
From the report of senior lieutenant of state security P. Deryabin:
"... We didn't have time to reach the regional department, when we heard a great noise, then crackling from the sea. Looking around, we saw a high water shaft advancing from the sea to the island ... I gave the order to open fire from personal weapons and shout : "Water is coming!", while retreating to the hills. Hearing the noise and screams, people began to run out of the apartments in what they were dressed (most in underwear, barefoot) and run into the hills. "
- Our path to the hills lay through a ditch three meters wide, where wooden walkways were laid for the transition. Next to me, panting, ran a woman with a five-year-old boy. I grabbed the child in an armful - and together with him jumped over the ditch, where only the strength came from. And the mother had already moved over the planks, ”said Konstantin Ponedelnikov.
Army dugouts were located on the hill, where the exercises took place. It was there that people settled down to warm themselves - it was November. These dugouts became their refuge for the next few days.
THREE WAVES
After the first wave left, many went downstairs to find the missing relatives, to release the cattle from the barns. People did not know: tsunamis have a long wavelength, and sometimes tens of minutes pass between the first and second.
"... Approximately 15-20 minutes after the departure of the first wave, a wave of water of even greater strength and magnitude than the first gushed again. People, thinking that everything was already over (many, heartbroken by the loss of their loved ones, children and property), descended from the hills and began to settle in the surviving houses in order to warm themselves and clothe themselves. The water, not meeting resistance in its path ... rushed onto land, completely destroying the remaining houses and buildings. This wave destroyed the entire city and killed most of the population. "
And almost immediately the third wave swept into the sea almost everything that it could take with it. The strait separating the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu was filled with floating houses, roofs and debris.
The tsunami, which was later named after the destroyed city - the "tsunami in Severo-Kurilsk" - was caused by an earthquake in the Pacific Ocean, 130 km from the coast of Kamchatka. An hour after a powerful (magnitude about 9 points) earthquake, the first tsunami wave reached Severo-Kurilsk. The height of the second, the most terrible, wave reached 18 meters. According to official figures, 2,336 people died in Severo-Kurilsk alone.
Konstantin Ponedelnikov did not see the waves themselves. At first he delivered refugees to the hill, then with several volunteers they went down and saved people for many hours, pulling them out of the water, taking them off the roofs. The real scale of the tragedy became clear later.
- He went down to the city ... We had a watchmaker there, a good guy, legless. I look: his stroller. And he himself lies there, dead. The soldiers pile the corpses on a britzka and take them to the hills, where they either go to a mass grave, or how else they buried them - God knows. And along the coast there were barracks, a sapper military unit. One foreman escaped, he was at home, and the whole company perished. A wave covered them. There was a bullpen, and there were probably people there. The maternity hospital, the hospital ... Everyone died, ”recalls Konstantin.
“The buildings were destroyed, the entire coast was strewn with logs, fragments of plywood, pieces of hedges, gates and doors. There were two old ship artillery towers on the pier, they were placed by the Japanese almost at the end of the Russian-Japanese war. The tsunami threw them a hundred meters away. When dawn, those who managed to escape descended from the mountains - men and women in linen, trembling with cold and horror. Most of the inhabitants either drowned or lay on the shore interspersed with logs and debris. "
The evacuation of the population was carried out promptly. After a short call from Stalin to the Sakhalin Regional Committee, all nearby aircraft and watercraft were sent to the disaster area. Konstantin, among about three hundred victims, ended up on the Amderma steamer, completely crammed with fish. For people, they unloaded half of the coal hold, threw a tarpaulin.
Through Korsakov they brought them to Primorye, where they lived for some time in very difficult conditions. But then "above" they decided that recruitment contracts needed to be worked out, and they sent everyone back to Sakhalin. There was no question of any material compensation, it’s good if you could at least confirm the experience. Konstantin was lucky: his work boss survived and restored work books and passports ...
FISH PLACE
Many destroyed villages were never rebuilt. The population of the islands has been greatly reduced. The port city of Severo-Kurilsk was rebuilt in a new place, higher up. Without carrying out the same volcanological examination, so that as a result the city ended up in an even more dangerous place - on the path of the mud flows of the Ebeko volcano, one of the most active in the Kuriles.
The life of the port of Severo-Kurilsk has always been connected with fish. The work is profitable, people came, lived, left - there was some kind of movement. In the 1970s and 80s, only loafers at sea did not earn 1,500 rubles a month (an order of magnitude more than in similar work on the mainland). In the 1990s, crab was caught and taken to Japan. But in the late 2000s, the Federal Agency for Fishery had to almost completely ban the fishing of king crab. To not disappear at all.
Today, compared to the late 1950s, the population has halved. Today, about 2,500 people live in Severo-Kurilsk - or, as the locals say, in Sevkur. Of these, 500 are under the age of 18. Every year, 30-40 citizens of the country are born in the maternity ward of the hospital, whose place of birth is Severo-Kurilsk.
The fish processing factory provides the country with stocks of navaga, flounder and pollock. Approximately half of the workers are local. The rest are visitors ("verbota", recruited). They earn about 25 thousand a month.
Selling fish to fellow countrymen is not accepted here. Its a whole sea, and if you want cod or, say, halibut, you need to come to the port in the evening, where the fishing ships are unloaded, and simply ask: "Listen, brother, wrap the fish."
Tourists in Paramushir are still only a dream. Visitors are accommodated in the "Fisherman's House" - a place that is only partly heated. True, a thermal power plant was recently modernized in Sevkur, and a new pier was built in the port.
One problem is the inaccessibility of Paramushir. More than a thousand kilometers to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, three hundred to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The helicopter flies once a week, and then on condition that the weather will be in Petrik, and in Severo-Kurilsk, and at Cape Lopatka, which ends Kamchatka. Well, if you wait a couple of days. Maybe three weeks...
LINKS
Everyone has heard about the deadly tsunamis in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, but few people know that our country also fell victim to this natural disaster. On November 5, 1952, a strong earthquake occurred near the Kuril Islands, which resulted in a tsunami with 18-meter waves.
The city of Severo-Kurilsk, located on the island of Paramushir, took the entire blow of the elements. Until 1952, most of the city was located right on the coast, in a natural valley. Tsunamis in these parts, unfortunately, are not uncommon, but the city was absolutely unprepared for an element of this magnitude. Moreover, at that time there was no reliable information about what a tsunami is and how to behave in such cases.
First, the first wave hit Severo-Kurilsk, the height of which, according to experts, reached 15-18 meters. It happened at 5 am local time. People ran out of their houses in panic, and many managed to get to the high ground. But they did not know that in no case should they return back after the wave recedes into the sea. After the first wave, the second, more destructive, always comes, and after it the third.
The inhabitants who went downstairs were covered by the second wave, which arrived 20-30 minutes later. This, according to experts, was the reason for such a large number of victims. Only according to official data, on that terrible November day, the city of Severo-Kurilsk lost 2,300 people. In total, about 6,000 people lived in the city at that time. The military took part in the aftermath of the tsunami. On the same day, warm clothes were delivered from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, people were provided with medical assistance and food was organized.
The infrastructure of the city was completely destroyed. It was decided not to restore fish processing enterprises, a pier, residential buildings, social facilities and a military camp. The damage was too great. The city was rebuilt, and in the place where Severo-Kurilsk was located today there is a port. This terrible event was classified, it was not written about in the newspapers and was not broadcast on the radio. The tragedy of Severo-Kurilsk was openly discussed only in the 1990s.
After the horror suffered, the country's leadership thought about creating a reliable earthquake and tsunami warning system. First of all, this concerned the Pacific region. The Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, Sakhalin Island - all of them belong to the territory of the Pacific Ring of Fire. This is the name of a region located on the periphery of the Pacific Ocean and characterized by increased seismic activity. It's all about the lithospheric plates, on the boundaries of which earthquakes regularly occur. The Pacific plate in this regard is one of the most active on the planet, and its boundaries are even highlighted in a special zone, called the Pacific ring of fire by geophysicists.
More than 60 years have passed since the catastrophe in Severo-Kurilsk. Today, about 2,500 people live here, mainly employed in the fishing industry. The city was rebuilt, and only the monument of memory does not let you forget about that terrible day.
"From Moscow to the very outskirts,
WITH southern mountains to the northern seas
Man passes like a host
His boundless homeland..
B. Lebedev-Kumach
The intervention of the natural elements in the plans of man is sometimes catastrophic. Talk about the revenge of nature for the carelessness of the "owner" of the Earth arises every time terrifying earthquakes, floods, droughts and many more deadly variations on this theme occur. It seems that a person, even foreseeing possible cataclysms at the place of his "passage", deliberately challenges the most powerful natural forces. So it was in Severo-Kurilsk in 1952. The place itself, where 5 out of 23 volcanoes are active and emit harmful toxins into the atmosphere, is not entirely habitable. The site for the construction of Severo-Kurilsk was chosen without a volcanological examination. Then, in the 1950s, the main thing was to build a city no lower than 30 meters above sea level. The North Kuril tsunami of 1952 was one of the five largest in the history of the twentieth century. In the autumn of 1952, the eastern coast of Kamchatka, the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu were on the first line of the elements. On the night of November 4-5, the city of Severo-Kurilsk was destroyed. There was a strong earthquake near Paramushir Island. And then three tsunami waves rolled from the ocean, the height of the second reached 18 meters in some places. All three waves brought unimaginable destruction and claimed the lives of 2336 people. Severo-Kurilsk and many other coastal villages were swept off the face of the earth. In the autumn of 1952, few people learned about this monstrous tragedy. The Soviet press, Pravda and Izvestia, did not get a single line: neither about the tsunami in the Kuriles, nor about the thousands of dead people. The tragedy in the Kuril Islands in 1952 resonated in the memoirs of scientific surveyors who went on an expedition after the incident. The writer Arkady Strugatsky, who served in those years in the Kuriles as a military translator, took part in the aftermath of the tsunami. He wrote to his brother in Leningrad: “... I was on the island of Syumusyu (or Shumshu - look for it at the southern tip of Kamchatka). What I saw, did and experienced there - I can’t write yet. I can only say that I visited the area where the disaster that I wrote to you about made itself felt especially strongly ... " It is known that at that time there were a lot of so-called contract soldiers in Kamchatka. Everyone was evacuated, but after some time they were sent back to work out the terms of the contract. No compensation, of course, was paid. However, after the tsunami of 1952, the Tsunami Warning System began to be created in the USSR, and 1955 is considered the year of its birth.
Heartbreaking stories about the rescue of drowning people in the disaster area in the Kuril Islands have survived to this day. The story of a boy is amazing - from Severo-Kurilsk, he was carried by a wave at the gate. They brought him to the village of Babushkino on the island of Shumshu. The child did not understand what had happened and where he was. He did not thaw immediately. But he did not remain an orphan - his parents found him. A lot of houses carried away into the open ocean were thrown ashore with people distraught from what had happened. The tragedy of Severo-Kurilsk in 1952 clearly demonstrates the carelessness of a person in principle, as well as the local authorities and the residents themselves. No one wondered why the former owners, the Japanese, built stairs into the hills - in order to climb up at the first danger and protect themselves from the tsunami. The population was not explained how to behave during such disasters. No one thought that buildings in the coastal zone are subject to the impact of a giant wave. Everything was built on the principle of economic expediency, without regard for security. Much later, in 1964, the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR decided to ban construction in tsunami-prone areas. But as was often the case in the USSR, the project remained undocumented. Therefore, new facilities continued to be built in life-threatening areas.
