Earthquake in Kamchatka in 1952. When two huge ridges of grief rolled. From the report of P. Deryabin

The scientific report of the seismologists of the Academy of Sciences has long been the only available document on the Kuril tsunami. The Bulletin of the Council on Seismology of the Institute of Earth Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1958), in particular, stated that “the tsunami of November 5, 1952 moved from the east, entering at the beginning into a wide part of the Second Kuril Strait. Further north, the strait narrows. The shores here are low-lying and have meandering outlines, settlements are located at the turn of the coast. All this was supposed to cause an increase in the height of the tsunami and intensify its destructive effect ... ".
According to seismologists, the Kuril disaster was due to the geography and geology of those places: along east coast Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands there is a link of the Pacific belt of high tectonic activity.
According to Yevgeny Kulikov, head of the tsunami laboratory at the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, there is a so-called subduction region in the Kuril Islands, where the most terrible earthquakes usually occur - the oceanic plate, moving towards the mainland Euro-Asian, creeps under it, as a result of which there is plate friction. Kuril ridge, Aleutian and Japanese islands- this is the zone of the strongest similar natural phenomena, where the highest speed is near the oceanic plate (about 10 cm per year, according to modern technology), provoking powerful earthquakes and the following tsunamis.
The tsunami was caused by an earthquake in Kamchatka, the depth of the source, located under the seabed, was 30 km. In terms of the amount of released energy, the Kamchatka earthquake of 1952 was many times greater than the Ashgabat earthquake (1948). In the 20th century, in northern Eurasia, it was exceptional in its strength. A huge continental zone in this place began to move and excited waves in the ocean. The largest of them reached a height of more than 20 m.
... In 1956, an order was issued to create a tsunami warning service in the USSR, which is still working in Russia. There is a Memory Square in Severo-Kurilsk, where the names of 2,236 victims of the tsunami are inscribed on metal boards - those whose bodies have been identified.

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.

Tsunami in Kamchatka, 1952

Tsunami in Kamchatka, 1952

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.

Tsunami in Kamchatka, 1952

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.

Tsunami in Kamchatka, 1952

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.

Tsunami in Kamchatka, 1952

Konstantin Ponedelnikov says:
- 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 didn’t have time to reach the regional department, when we heard a great noise, then crackling from the sea. Looking back, we saw high altitude a wave of water 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: the tsunami has great length waves, 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 again gushed greater strength and magnitude than the first. 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. Water, not meeting resistance on its way ... rushed onto land, completely destroying the remaining houses and buildings. This wave destroyed the whole city and killed most of 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 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...

This day in history:

On November 5, 1952, an earthquake occurred 130 km from the cape of the Shipunsky Peninsula of Kamchatka. The source of the earthquake was at a depth of 20-30 km. The destruction from the earthquake covered the coast for 700 km: from the Kronotsky Peninsula to the northern Kuril Islands. The destruction was small - pipes collapsed, light buildings were damaged, the walls of buildings and capital structures cracked.

Much more destruction and disaster was brought by the tsunami that arose as a result of this earthquake. The height of the water rise reached an average of 6-7 m.

devastating tsunami to eastern shores Kamchatka and the northern Kuril Islands approached 15-45 minutes after the earthquake and began with a drop in sea level.

The city of Severo-Kurilsk, located on about. Paramushir. The urban area occupied a coastal beach 1-5 m high, then the slope of the coastal terrace 10 m high extended further. Many buildings were placed on it. Some of the buildings were located southwest of the port along the river valley.

According to a number of archival sources, 2,336 people died on that tragic night in the Northern Kuriles.

The following are eyewitness accounts and excerpts from documents that quite fully describe the dramatic events of 1952.

A. Ya. Mezis

Tragedy 52

Neither in Severo-Kurilsk, nor in our country, in Kozyrevsk, nor at other plants have they yet given out a salary. Why did I end up in Kozyrevsk? The chief officer remained on the ship, and the chief mech and I went ashore. I usually received a statement and money there, and then I gave it to the guys on the ship, they signed, and I handed over the statement to the accounting department. In general, I came to receive a salary, and at the same time to visit home - my family lived in Kozyrevsk, and that night it started.

The earthquake was very strong. There were often earthquakes, in general, the islands shook endlessly, they got used to it and did not pay attention to it, especially if it was only 2-3 points. Those on the shore, of course, always felt them, but we did not feel earthquakes at all in the sea.

So, when it began to shake violently, many, yes, in fact, almost all people did not know at all that there were such waves on the sea - tsunamis. I read something about them in nautical textbooks. But this is so ... you never know what we read about? There was no true idea about them and what trouble they bring...

I remember jumping out of bed, and pulling the floor from under my feet, and the alarm clock fell, and darkness - the light was given from the power plant until 11-12 o'clock. But I had a battery and a light bulb at home. Children are all the same, one is quite small - you never know what at night? Well, I turned on the light, there was an alarm clock under my feet, and the hands on the dial showed ten minutes past four. This stuck in my memory .. And in the house - it was a Japanese long, barrack type, of eight apartments - noise, screams.

People were running out into the street. I looked out the window. What is it? .. I don’t understand. And so, in this turmoil, noise, 10-15 minutes passed. The wife was still sleeping with the kids, then the elder woke up, muttering: “What is this?”, And she told him: “Sleep”, and the little one, as he slept, did not wake up.

Then I hear people shouting: "Wave! Wave!".

It was the first, low wave that rolled along the shore. She, as I later saw, broke the piers, demolished the conveyors along which the fish walked, and washed the lower houses - up to the windows. Of course, people were horrified by this. They all fled at once - so here we had no victims.

But further - there the shore immediately rose steeply up more than 30 meters above sea level - there seemed to be a lot of seething and again shouts: "Wave, wave!". Then it hit me in the head: "Stop! After a strong earthquake, there can be big waves." I told my wife: "You, let's get up and dress the guys, you see, there is a" wave "shouting." Wife: "What, is it shaking for the first time? It will shake and stop." I don’t have a habit of swearing, but then I fired, as they say, from the top floor: “Get up! Dress the guys!” And I myself think: they say, like friends there, Kostya Todorov, Sashka Erushevich are from Odessa. I have to run and see. They stayed there, closer to the sea.

Well, I left the house. The night is bright and quiet. The moon is directly over the strait. I ran to their house - whole, only it is noticeable that the water rose to the windows. And the sand around was so leveled, well, just like on a good beach. And the piers are open...

Then two guys joined me, one - the foreman of a military boat and the second - a fish processor of a cannery. So the three of us went down the coast, and the water in the sea recedes, the bottom is exposed. This guy, the fish processor, said: "Look, the bottom appears, and the sand even where they were anchored - there were no places at the pier." We saw someone's broken anchor. And the guy chuckled: "If the water goes down like that, then we'll come to Severo-Kurilsk in an hour." And I said, "Guys, this is a bad omen. Looks like the bottom is going to be exposed before the next wave."

Soon our attention was attracted by some rumble from the ocean. This rumble grew stronger and stronger all the time. We looked towards the ocean, and under the moon - such a bright strip on the water. Not just a track, but a lane. When we saw her, she was thin. And here she began to get fat. "Guys," I said, "that's this rumble ... the band is a wave rolling, let's get out of here." I remembered at that moment how in the marine textbook it was written about these waves. And we first from it - step, step, and it grew with great speed. And the noise grew. Bolt.

We run, and then we see that she is close, it became scary and everything is clear - we are at full speed. Someone's cow ran past us, and then we noticed the path, and along it - up and up. They ran into the hillside, they would have to go further, but there was no strength left, the heart was pounding terribly. Stopped. We see - the gray mass of the shaft does not seem to be rolling very fast, but what a bulk! .. And then it hit the plant, partially covered it and, as it were, pushed - all these buildings instantly began to emerge, falling apart into logs and boards, and the water drove them ahead myself. She carried everything, destroying, chewing other buildings on her way, and literally in just two or three minutes she swept along the entire coast. Then the water began to decline, roll down.

The coast opened up. And we stand with bulging eyes and do not believe what we see. There were buildings, nothing. As a janitor with a broom passed and swept everything - the shore is clean.

Then we see when we looked in the direction of Severo-Kurilsk - although it’s not a day, you can’t see it well, but we saw that black water poured out from there - it was the wreckage of the city that filled the bay, and screams came from them. Heartbreaking screams. We stand, we look. What to do?!

Here, in front of us - a small ravine, a stream ran along it - so this whole ravine was clogged with the wreckage of the plant: boards, logs, beams, iron rods stuck out. How are our barracks? How is it? .. To see them, you have to go around - it's far and scary, and you need to know faster if the children and wife are alive. I climbed through these debris to get to the frontier post. There, on its territory, I already noticed people - the whole yard was filled; crying, screaming. I ran there, looking for mine.

I look - the wife is standing. He approached her, and she stood there and could not say anything from fear - she and the children also saw how this water shaft rolled. Suddenly I see: she is holding her youngest upside down - instead of a head, his heel sticks out of the blanket, and he is silent there. "Turn it over," I said. She turned him over and swaddled him again.

Above the frontier post there was a house, old people lived in it - we were friends with them. They treated us well. The old man Lukashenko himself is from Ukraine. I told my wife: "Let's go to Lukashenka." Others went there, crowded into the house. All the women, I see, are terribly frightened, pale, one is shaking, the other's cheek is twitching.

I pushed Fedya - he was the captain on a Japanese schooner: "Let's go, the barrel is there, you know? .." Let's go, they opened that barrel and poured a kettle of alcohol. They brought them, treated them, and they themselves went to see what the sea had done? .. And it was already time - by morning, by dawn. And the strait is still full of debris and the cries of people do not stop - they are asking for help ...

The steamer "Amderma" came, then "Krasnogorsk". We anchored. The boats were lowered. Between the wreckage - on boats, they were pushed aside with oars. How many people they pulled out.

When my seiner approached, I hardly climbed onto it; the assistant immediately ran to look for his family. The captain from the twenty-first seiner also climbed over to us - the husband of my wife's sister. It turned out that his wooden boat was damaged, it sank along the deck, and then it was thrown ashore. We started moving back and forth. I don’t know how many people were pulled out of the water by the first officer before that - he only managed to say that he was saving - and we brought seventeen people on board. From the ruins of former buildings.

In addition, realizing that people needed to change clothes and eat, they caught various bales, boxes - they mainly hunted for food and clothes. Near the fire, which was stoked with all its might, the rescued dried shirts, blankets ... Our cook from flour and egg powder - we also caught this in the water - constantly cooked omelets and cakes.

Soon a snowfall, a blizzard, a storm began. Visibility has decreased. We continue to look for people. We noticed a quilt among the wreckage, so pink, satin. We approached him, hooked him with a hook - maybe we'll dry it and give it to someone. They pulled it, and under it was a window frame, and the corpse of a child was stuck in it. We didn't take a blanket...

When they made their way to Severo-Kurilsk, they were afraid that they would run into something that could damage either the side or the propeller. We saw a coastal crane. The crane fell into the sea, and this is the picture: its arrow sticks out of the water with a hook, which is for lifting the load, and a pendant - a cable, and this cable is so bent that the hand of a young guy is clamped in it; he hung facing the arrow and, apparently, fought against it - his face was broken, and he hung in shorts and a T-shirt, barefoot. We wanted to take him out. Did not work out.

We went ashore, here on the breakwater too ... why didn’t it wash away ... On the very edge lay a dead Korean woman, apparently pregnant - a big belly ... They moved away, and then, from a half-washed gravel and sand pit, an arm and legs stuck out. Horror...

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. But these were probably residents not of Severo-Kurilsk, the most densely populated region, which was covered by a wave by about two-thirds, but of its outskirts - the flood did not touch them, but only frightened them.

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 cape, there are high rocks, at low tide they walked along the coast 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. I - a sudden blow giant wave. All the barracks and buildings were destroyed in an instant, the guys were swept up in water ... And who could be saved, and how long the survivor, undressed, can hold out in cold water- It's 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 have died ... 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 low bank, 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 power.

Below were the warehouses of the fish farm. Naturally, they were destroyed, the goods there are different, the manufactory was scattered. Other rolls unwound, can you imagine?

There was also some funny stuff. We had one half-wit - Masha, which means she then goes to the unwound fabric and is going to cut off a piece. The soldier says to her: "Why are you touching!", And she: "This is mine, this was taken away from the house." Well, he drove her away, and she went from the other, as they say, end, grabbed a hefty wet piece and dragged her to her ...

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 Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk, it remained absolutely unharmed, except that the water wet it, 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, unlike in big cities, the preparation for the holiday was 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 towns 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.

And at night, to the club of the Sugar Factory, where we were temporarily placed and we put on duty for the night, because there were bastards who were not averse to profiting from other people's good, but the fact that people survived the tragedy did not interest them - and so suddenly they appeared uncles in fur coats. Who are they? For what? Well, they showed the certificates - the police, then asked us to find witnesses from those who are still awake, and the head of the club would not interfere here. The woman was then awakened and a search warrant was shown to her. And they began to fiddle with her things. She, of course: "Shame on you, where you climb!". And as they unfolded the linen, as a wad of money appeared, not yet completely dry, she became silent. Then money was found in the suitcase, in its double bottom. Of course, they began to find out where they acquired such capital.

And it turned out that when the ocean plant was washed away, she and her husband saw a safe on the shore. They hacked it, and there - the salary of the entire team, which was brought in but did not have time to give out. They divided this money with her husband, and she went to Voroshilov, and he stayed in Vladivostok. Well, they took him there.

And in Vladivostok, at the sea station, I saw a different picture. This is when we got there after the disaster. My wife is with children, her sister is with a child, it was four days since she gave birth, she would have died if we had not persuaded the hospital staff to let her go before the tsunami - it was cold there. And here we go with the children and with the little things that we managed to capture. And the other - with suitcases, one thicker than the other. Well, just like a merchant from a rich region. And they say to him: "And you go through that door." Then, you see, he comes out of there with nothing - they shook him, and under escort.

So everything was in this tragedy: death, and mutilation, and madness, and grief, and looting, and profit, and feat, and sympathy, and compassion ...

Such are the people. That is life.

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 local history museum and the Sakhalin Branch of the All-Russian Fund of Culture.)

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.

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, as matchboxes and swept out to 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.

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 ... personnel left the gathering place without permission and by the evening of November 6 boarded the steamship "Uelen"...

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 fish processing plants Babushkino and Kozyrevskoye at the moment 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

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 hard basalt rock that withstands this titanic stress, the failure occurred in the weakest place (according to the structure of the seabed) in the Pacific Ocean, in the so-called Tuskorora depression. 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 an arc along the North Kuril lowland in a southeast direction, collapsed on the city of Severo-Kurilsk, revolving furiously in a circle of the depression and with rapid convulsive jerks washing away to the ground all the buildings and structures located on the ground 10 - 15 meters above the level seas.

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, and the elderly.

Here are two girls leading an old woman under the arms. Pursued by the approaching wave, they try to run faster towards the hill. The old woman, exhausted, falls to the ground in exhaustion. She begs the girls to leave her and save themselves. But the girls, through the noise and roar of the approaching elements, shout to her: "We will not leave you anyway, let us all drown together." They pick up the old woman in their arms and try to run, but at that moment the oncoming wave picks them up and throws them all together to a hill. They are saved.

Losev's mother and young daughter, escaping on the roof of their house, were thrown into the strait by a wave. Calling for help, they were noticed by people on the hill. Soon, in the same place, not far from the floating Losevs, a little girl was noticed on the board, as it later turned out, the three-year-old Embankment Svetlana, who miraculously escaped, disappeared, then reappeared on the crest of the wave. Her blond hair, fluttering in the wind, from time to time she tucked her hand back, which indicated that the girl was alive.

The strait at that time was completely filled with floating houses, roofs, various demolished property, and especially fishing gear that interfered with the navigation of boats. The first attempts to break through on boats were unsuccessful - solid blockages prevent moving forward, and fishing tackle is wound on propellers. But then a boat separated from the coast of the island of Shumshu, which slowly makes its way forward through the rubble. Here he comes to the floating roof, the crew of the boat quickly removes the Losevs, and then carefully removes Svetlana from the board. The people sitting with bated breath breathed a sigh of relief.

Only during the run-up to the city of Severo-Kurilsk, the population and the command of various watercraft picked up and rescued more than 15 children lost by their parents, removed 192 people from roofs and other floating objects in the strait, the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the ocean.

Many responsible workers, until the last minute notifying the population of the impending danger, 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)

A lot of courage, initiative and resourcefulness were shown in saving people and state property. 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 strong wind, rain and snow, courageously and steadfastly endured all the 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, a lonely standing monument to the soldiers of the Soviet Army, a rubble frame of a radio station building, central the gates 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 an unknown person 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...

The village of Kamenisty - there was no population on the day of the disaster ... In the village, all production facilities were completely demolished by water. Only one house remained from the housing stock.

Coastal village - all production facilities and premises were destroyed and demolished into the ocean. There are 9 residential buildings located on a hill and one warehouse of technical and material property. There are no human casualties. The living population, less than 100 people, has been completely evacuated.

The village of Galkino - no human casualties. The population was less than 100 people who were completely evacuated. Manufacturing plants and living quarters are destroyed and washed into the ocean.

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.

The village Baza Combat - was mothballed before the disaster. The population at the time of the disaster did not live. All businesses are destroyed by water. There are two residential buildings and one tank with a capacity of up to 800 tons.

Cape Vasiliev - everything is completely preserved. The civilian population was 12 people.

The village of Mayor Van - it housed the base of the Shelekhov fish processing plant. The village was not damaged. The population has been evacuated.

The village of Shelekhovo (9) - it housed a fish factory. The population lived 805 people, there is no destruction in the village. The population has been evacuated. 102 people left.

The village of Savushkino (10) - it housed a military base with a subsidiary farm. There are no casualties, no destruction either.

Settlement Kozyrevskiy (11) - it housed two fish factories. The population lived more than 1000 people, 10 people died from the disaster. The rest of the population has been evacuated. Both plants are completely destroyed and washed away into the sea. A lot of tin cans with flounder and Kuril salmon are scattered on the shore.

The village of Babushkino (12) - a fish factory was located in it. The population lived more than 500 people, there were no casualties. The population has been evacuated. A walkie-talkie and two radio operators were left. Industrial enterprises are completely destroyed and washed into the sea. The housing stock suffered by 30-40%.

The administrative building of the Severo-Kurilsky regional branch of the State Bank was also completely demolished, the documentation was washed into the sea, but the safes and the storeroom of the State Bank, with the exception of one safe, were found not far from the location of the administrative building, in which all valuables worth about 9 million rubles were completely preserved. Valuables of savings banks have been preserved in the settlements of Shelekhovo, Baikovo and others, only 11 out of 14 savings banks, in the rest the values ​​have been partially lost.

Safes belonging to the North Kuril Central Cash Office were also found, personal accounts of depositors were not found.

It should be noted that in connection with the sudden evacuation of border guards, in the first days in a number of villages - Shelekhovo, Okeansky, Rifovoy, Galkino and on the island of Alaid, there was panic among the population, as a result of which in these points all state and public property was thrown to the mercy of fate...

In the period from 14 to 26 November, the border guards returned. By this time, in all settlements, the authorized representative of the regional committee of the CPSU, with the help of military units and the remaining civilian population, organized the collection of state, public and personal property, which was transferred under the protection of military units or civilians ...

Upon arrival in Severo-Kurilsk on November 8, 1952, in accordance with the decision of the commission of the regional committee of the CPSU, I organized the collection of state and public property both in Severo-Kurilsk and in a number of other flooded villages. To manage the collection and protection of property, employees of the commission and the police were sent to the villages ...

As a result, for the period from November 10 to November 20, 1952, that is, before snow drifts, ... in Severo-Kurilsk, alcohol and vodka products in the amount of 8.75 million rubles, 126 tons of flour were collected and stored in warehouses military units ..., 16 horses, 112 cattle, 33 small heads, 9 heifers, 90 pigs, 32 pigs, 6 sheep. Collected and rescued a large number of material assets in the settlements of Okeansky, Rifovoy, etc.

On November 23, I, together with members of the commission of the regional committee of the CPSU, t. public order. In other villages, due to a strong storm, it was not necessary to land. By the time of departure, on November 6 ..., Comrade Bezrodny (a police officer) was asked ...

Upon arrival, police officers are sent to guard the public order in the villages: Shelekhovo - 2 people, Rifovoe - 1 person, Okeanskoye - 1 person, Kozyrevskoye - 1 person;

Carefully take into account the entire population of the district's settlements, including seafarers;

To take an active part in the organization of work on the collection and protection of state valuables left on the shores, as well as the personal property of citizens ...;

To wage a resolute struggle against looting;

Take measures to clarify those who died during the natural disaster, ensure the collection of documents of the victims ...

Police Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov

3. From the protocol of interrogation drawn up at the police station in the city of Severo-Kurilsk

I, deputy head of the police department of the UMGB of the Sakhalin Region, militia colonel Smirnov, interrogated Pavel Ivanovich Smolin, born in 1925, as a witness Krasnodar Territory, Kurganinsky district, the village of Rodnikovskaya, non-partisan, Russian, education of 6 classes, married, son 4 years old. Works on logger N 636 as a radio operator (13); lived in Severo-Kurilsk, st. Sovetskaya, barrack N 49, apt. 13; do not judge; has no papers...

Testimony on the merits of the case:

I have been working on logger N 636, owned by the Severo-Kurilsky fish processing plant, as a radio operator since May or June 1952, and since 1950 I have been working in the fishing industry in the North Kuril Islands. On the night of November 5, 1952, I, along with other fishermen, was at sea on a logger (catching fish), or rather, they were in a bucket. At about 4 o'clock in the morning, a great shudder of the ship was felt on the logger. I and other fishermen understood it as an earthquake... On the night of November 5... there was a storm warning of 6-7 points. After the earthquake, our logger, under the command of Captain Lymar, went to sea first. It was about 4 o'clock in the morning.

Walking along the Second Strait in the area of ​​​​Cape Banzhovsky, our logger was covered by the first wave several meters high. Being in the cockpit, I felt that our ship, as it were, was lowered into a hole, and then thrown high into the air. A few minutes later, a second wave followed and the same thing happened again. Then the ship went quietly, and the throws were not felt. The ship was at sea all day. Only at about 6 pm some military radio station told us: "Return to Severo-Kurilsk immediately. We are waiting at the apparatus. Alperin." I immediately reported to the captain, who immediately answered: "I am immediately returning to Severo-Kurilsk." By that time, we had up to 70 kg of fish caught per day on board. Loger headed for Severo-Kurilsk.

On the way back, I contacted logger N 399 by radio, asking the radio operator: "What happened to Severo-Kurilsk?" The radio operator Pokhodenko answered me: "Go to the rescue of people ... after the earthquake, the wave washed away Severo-Kurilsk. We are standing under the side of the ship, the steering is out of order, the propeller is bent." My attempts to contact Severo-Kurilsk were unsuccessful - he was silent. I contacted Shelekhov by radio. The radio operator answered me: "There was a drain earthquake in Severo-Kurilsk, maybe something happened." I told him that we were leaving at the time of the earthquake, and everything was in order there. This ended the conversation.

Even in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, before reaching the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu, the logger's team, including myself, saw the roofs of houses, logs, boxes, barrels, beds, doors floating towards us. By order of the captain, the team was posted on the deck on both sides of the sides and on the bow in order to save people who were at sea. But none of the people were found. Throughout the entire journey of 5-6 miles, we observed the same picture: floating barrels, boxes, etc. dense mass.

Entering the Second Strait, four boats came to meet us. Behind them were two military boats. From the latter, some signals were given: apparently, in order to stop the boats in front. But they continued to move forward.

Arriving at the roadstead, our logger approached logger N 399 ... whose captain asked our captain not to leave them ... We replied that we would not leave them and anchored. There was no contact with the coast. The time was about 2-3 am on November 6, 1952. They were waiting for the dawn. Fires were burning on the hills opposite Severo-Kurilsk. We thought that people were escaping on the hills, there were a lot of fires. As it began to dawn, I and others discovered that the city of Severo-Kurilsk had been washed away.

At about 8 o'clock in the morning, I and other sailors, under the command of the third mate of the captain Comrade Kryvchik, sailed on a boat to the cannery and then landed. On the site of the city, people, including the military, walked around - they collected corpses ... Having examined the place where the barrack in which I lived was located, I did not find any signs (of it) ... I did not find any things belonging to me - everything was demolished. In my apartment I had clothes, a sewing machine, a passbook with a deposit of 15,000 rubles, a military ID, seven medals...

My family - wife, Smolina Anna Nikiforova, son, Alexander, four years old, arrived on a refrigerator from Vladivostok on November 6, 1953. She was on vacation and followed her son to the Krasnodar Territory, to her homeland ... I found her on a refrigerator on November 8th. Now the wife and son are on board the logger N 636, they work as a cook.

After I did not find the hut in which I lived, I went on a boat to my logger, taking on board people from the shore, including women and children. The logger team continued to transport people on board.

On the 7th or 8th of November, we received a radio message: "All people taken on board, from among those in distress, to transfer to the steamer," so we transferred all of them to the steamers, the names of which I do not remember. The evacuation of the civilian population was completed on November 9, and no more people came to us.

From among the members of the team of the logger N 636, they found their families who escaped on the hills in Severo-Kurilsk, captain Lymar - his wife, senior mechanic Filippov - his wife and daughter, second assistant captain Nevzorov - his wife; the third assistant mechanic, Ivanov, found a wife and four children; boarded the boat and left. The first assistant mechanic Petrov found his wife and son and also left on the ship. The rest of the family members live on the ship. In addition to the indicated persons, who arbitrarily left the ship, the boatswain, the trawlmaster and the trawlmaster's assistant disappeared ... to date, the third assistant to the captain has not returned on board. As a result, only 15 people remained from the logger team ...

Smolin (signature)

Washed ashore by the tsunami in 1952, a whaling ship.

Severo-Kurilsk today.

Monument to the victims of the 1952 tsunami. (Severo-Kurilsk)

NOTES:

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 the fishing industry of the Far East and Sakhalin. A talented organizer, he devoted a lot of effort to the formation of a fish factory and factories on 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 the registration data as a settlement by the 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.

13. Loger - a fishing vessel of the SRT type.

14. With the onset of dawn on November 5, reconnaissance aircraft from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky appeared over the islands, which surveyed the area and photographed. Following the scouts throughout the day, warm clothes, tents and food were dropped from the aircraft for the affected population, who were fleeing by the fires. From the very dawn, planes began to land at the airfield of Shumshu Island and take the sick to Kamchatka. At the same time, the surviving boats of the North Kuril State Fish Trust went into the strait to rescue people who had been carried into the sea. Food and warm clothes were distributed to the population from the military depots, the sick were placed in the hospital.

15. The evacuation of the affected population of the North Kuril region began on November 6, 1952. Steamboats from Petropavlovsk and Vladivostok began to arrive in the Second Kuril Strait. There were 40 vessels of different carrying capacity under loading here. Until November 11, the entire population was evacuated. Most soon returned through Korsakov and Kholmsk to work in the Sakhalin region.

© Local Lore Bulletin No. 4, 1991

Copy of someone else's materials

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 given medical care and meals were provided.

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.

The Kuril tsunami of 1952 is considered one of the largest such manifestations of natural disasters in the twentieth century. On the night of November 4-5, the whole city of Severo-Kurilsk was washed into the Pacific Ocean, where about 6 thousand people and several villages lived. There was no system for warning the population about the elements in the USSR at that time, and the degree of readiness of people for this emergency was reduced to zero.

How did it happen

On the night of November 4-5, the inhabitants of Severo-Kurilsk were awakened by a 7-magnitude earthquake. A few minutes later the tremors stopped. After the earthquake, no one expected a tsunami to follow. The first, “only” eight-meter wave was followed by the second (up to 15 meters) and the third. People descending into the lowlands for their property were doomed. In the certificate of the head of the regional Sakhalin police department, Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov (beginning of December 1952), it is said how people who suffered from the tsunami were rescued. Whoever had time, in one underwear, ran to the hills to protect themselves from ocean waves. The second, more powerful tsunami wave demolished and swirled multi-ton tractors, trucks and machine tools in a whirlpool. Drifted into ice (4 - 6 degrees) ocean water and thousands of people. Then the corpses thrown onto land were buried all winter.

Smirnov's certificate indicates 1,790 dead among the civilian population (about 1,200 people are residents of Severo-Kurilsk). Almost all the corpses, with the exception of a few, were washed into the sea. Boris Piip, head of the Kamchatka Volcanological Station of the USSR Academy of Sciences, wrote in his diary in December 1952:

“... about 40 minutes after the first shaking, two seismic sea ​​waves. The first only flooded the first lowest-lying houses, the second was, as it turned out later, 10 m, which caused the main disasters. The radio station continuously transmitted SOS, but somehow stupidly, so that Petropavlovsk could not understand anything ... ".

According to Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Viktor Kaistrenko, who studied the history of the tragedy, almost nothing remained of the city, only the outskirts of Severo-Kurilsk, located on high altitudes. Only two concrete structures survived from the city - the gates of the stadium and the concrete monument to the Hero Soviet Union pilot Talalikhin. Severo-Kurilsk was a desert, powdered with the first snow.

And then there were the islands.

The future science fiction writer Arkady Strugatsky, then a military translator, wrote to his brother Boris about a business trip to Shumshu Island (the northern group of the Kuril Islands) - the island was then also ground by a tsunami. The surviving residents of the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu (105 people lived there, in addition to military personnel of military units) were evacuated by the beginning of 1953. Local historians believe that at least 8,000 people, including almost 2,000 children, became victims of the 1952 tsunami.

Marauders revived

How many servicemen died during the tsunami is still not known - the naval archive was declassified, and to this day the army documents are marked "Secret". The tsunami claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers and officers, the consequences of the disaster, according to police reports, provoked cases of looting. In one of the destroyed ocean waves institutions, marauders broke into a safe and stole 270,000 rubles.

What are the reasons?

The scientific report of the seismologists of the Academy of Sciences has long been the only available document on the Kuril tsunami. The Bulletin of the Council for Seismology of the Institute of Physics of the Earth, Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1958), in particular, stated that

“The tsunami of November 5, 1952 moved from the east, entering at the beginning into a wide part of the Second Kuril Strait. Further north, the strait narrows. The shores here are low-lying and have a winding outline, settlements are located at the turn of the shores. All this was supposed to cause an increase in the height of the tsunami and intensify its destructive effect ... ".

According to seismologists, the Kuril catastrophe was due to the geography and geology of those places: along the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands, there is a link in the Pacific belt of high tectonic activity. According to Yevgeny Kulikov, head of the tsunami laboratory at the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, there is a so-called subduction region in the Kuril Islands, where the most terrible earthquakes usually occur - the oceanic plate, moving towards the mainland Euro-Asian, crawls under it, as a result of which there is plate friction. The Kuril ridge, the Aleutian and Japanese islands are the zone of the strongest similar natural phenomena, where the oceanic plate has the highest speed (about 10 cm per year, according to modern technology), provoking powerful earthquakes and the following tsunamis.

The tsunami was caused by an earthquake in Kamchatka, the depth of the source, located under the seabed, is 30 km. In terms of the amount of released energy, the Kamchatka earthquake of 1952 was many times greater than the Ashgabat earthquake (1948). In the 20th century, in northern Eurasia, it was exceptional in its strength. A huge continental zone in this place began to move and excited waves in the ocean. The largest of them reached a height of more than 20 m.

In 1956, an order was issued to create a tsunami warning service in the USSR, which is still operating in Russia. There is a Memory Square in Severo-Kurilsk, where the names of 2,236 victims of the tsunami are inscribed on metal boards - those whose bodies have been identified.