November 5, 1952 powerful tsunami. A monstrous echo of the ocean depths. Kuril tsunami. What a terrible, menacing noise came from the sea

The scientific report of seismologists of the Academy of Sciences was for a long time the only available document about the Kuril tsunami. The bulletin of the Seismology Council 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, initially entering the wide part of the Second Kuril Strait. Further north the strait narrows. The banks here are low-lying and have winding outlines; settlements are located at the bend in the banks. All this should have caused an increase in the height of the tsunami and intensified its destructive effect...”
According to seismologists, the Kuril disaster was caused by the geography and geology of those places: along the eastern coast of the Kamchatka peninsula and Kuril Islands there is a link in the Pacific belt of high tectonic activity.
According to the head of the tsunami laboratory at the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Evgeniy Kulikov, in the Kuril Islands there is a so-called subduction region, where the most terrible earthquakes usually occur - the oceanic plate, moving towards the Euro-Asian continent, creeps under it, as a result of which a plate friction. Kuril ridge, Aleutian and Japanese islands- this is the zone of the strongest such natural disasters natural phenomena, where the highest speed is near the ocean plate (about 10 cm per year, according to modern technology calculations), provoking powerful earthquakes and subsequent 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 energy released, the Kamchatka earthquake of 1952 was many times greater than the Ashgabat earthquake (1948). In the twentieth century in northern Eurasia it was exceptional in its strength. The 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. In Severo-Kurilsk there is a Memory Square, where metal plaques bear the names of the 2,236 victims of the tsunami - those whose bodies were identified.

Every year on November 5 in Severo-Kurilsk they honor the memory of those who died in terrible disaster 1952. Then the tsunami waves washed away the entire regional center. As was later calculated, the unbridled disaster claimed 2,336 lives local residents. Someone was simply washed out to sea, and the fact of death was established only when checking population lists. By all standards, this was an extraordinary tsunami, says leading researcher at the Tsunami Laboratory of the Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics (IMGiG), candidate of physical and mathematical sciences Viktor Kaistrenko. The disaster, like a giant ice skating rink, swept through the Northern Kuril Islands and southern Kamchatka, practically destroying Severo-Kurilsk and other coastal settlements in this territory. The 1952 tsunami was transoceanic, and waves of unprecedented magnitude reached all shores of the Pacific Ocean.

The giant wave that washed away Severo-Kurilsk from the face of the earth was caused by a strong earthquake. It, in turn, occurred in the ocean, and its magnitude exceeded 9 points. Over the past 200 years, according to the data available to scientists, there have been only 10 such earthquakes with a source in the ocean. Nine of them are registered on the periphery of the Pacific Ocean, which is not surprising: here is the most tectonically active zone of the planet, the so-called Pacific Rim... The recent terrible tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which hit the coasts of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka at the end of 2004, was just as powerful. India and other countries.

However, for a long time, information about the tragedy of November 5, 1952 was hidden under the headings “Secret” or “For official use.” Such was the time then. Shel Last year life of Stalin.

These data began to be declassified only in the 90s. It was then that they first started talking about building a memorial to those killed in the regional center. The most detailed description, hot on the heels, is contained in the report of the Hydrographic Expedition Pacific Fleet, based in Kamchatka. Three of her ships were in the Northern Kuril Islands the very next day. Volcanologist A. Svyatlovsky also landed on the islands with them. A week later, scientists arrived there from Sakhalin, from the Integrated Research Institute (as IMGiG was then called). In the 90s, the already famous professor A. Svyatlovsky handed over his archives to V. Kaistrenko. This data, emphasizes V. Kaistrenko, is very valuable for studying that tsunami.

Information about the North Kuril tsunami of 1952 was partially published in open scientific publications only in 1957–1959. The stamps on most documents did not allow us to write about the tsunami in more detail or conduct large-scale research. It is these documents that now form the basis of future scientific research, and are also a good reminder of what inattention to the seismic features of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands can result in.

FROM PUSH TO FIRST WAVE

So, this is the picture that emerges from the archival documents.

The night was moonlit. The destructive wave was preceded by an earthquake. It happened at night around 5 a.m. Kamchatka time. People are accustomed to constant tremors, but these were stronger than usual and were accompanied by an underground roar. Residents jumped out of their houses, but the earthquake seemed to have died down. Moreover, there was no severe destruction. The anxiety subsided, but, as it turned out, not for long...

The first wave arrived after about 20 minutes... Its height was 5–8 meters. As it turned out later, not everyone knew what a tsunami was and how it was related to an earthquake.

The first blow hit the ships standing in the port bucket. The moon illuminated the scene of the unfolding tragedy well. The tsunami simply overwhelmed them. Some, being thrown into the sea, were able to stay afloat and did not drown. According to Lev Dombrovsky, the captain of one of them said that he had not believed in this before: their tank landing ship was torn from its anchor and mooring lines like a feather, literally spun and thrown into the bay, but the ship did not receive any damage and then participated in saving people.

From the memoirs of an eyewitness, captain Nikolai Mikhalchenko:

“When the first tremors stopped, my wife and I returned to the house. We lived 30–40 meters from the shore in the village of Okeanskoye on Paramushir. After a while it started shaking again, we started getting dressed and then I heard shouts: “Water!” I opened the door and I was literally carried out by a powerful stream. The house folded like cardboard, but I managed to cling to its roof before it was torn off... It’s dark, you can’t see anything. I flew off along with the roof, felt a hard surface under my feet, came to my senses and ran up the hill towards the fish factory. Later I noticed that the roof of my house was thrown away from the shore about half a kilometer. We stayed on the hill for two or three days, until ships came from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and began to take those who survived to Severo-Kurilsk. In Okeanskoye, everyone who lived near the shore died.

QUIET MORNING

The second wave was much higher and more destructive. Electricity was lost in the houses - the previous onslaught did not hit the power plant... After the second attack, the entire lower part of the regional center was washed away. In fact, almost the entire settlement was located there.

From the memoirs of Lev Dombrovsky:

– The second wave arrived 40 minutes after the first. Looking through binoculars, I couldn’t believe my eyes: the city simply disappeared... And the morning was quiet and sunny. The ocean was calm. And in the sea near the shore we could see empty containers, fuel barrels, we even saw a wooden house. It was just washed away...

We were all on edge... We were scattered everywhere on the ground dead bodies... One person was hanging from the crane mast. One house made of slabs was not destroyed. But only its foundation survived, and the roof, doors and windows were torn out.

A few days after the tragedy, snow fell. As it turned out later, only two buildings made of concrete remained completely undamaged: the gates of the stadium and the monument to Hero of the Soviet Union Stepan Savushkin.

Cases of looting were recorded; they were stopped only with the help of the military. The victims began to be transported to Vladivostok, Kamchatka and Sakhalin. The shock was severe, but after some time the North Kuril residents began to return to their islands.

RESCUE OF DROWNING PERSONS

The archives have truly been preserved amazing stories rescuing people thrown into the open sea. V. Kaistrenko met personally with an eyewitness of one of them, the captain of the fishing vessel Alexey Mezis.

According to the captain’s recollections, his crew brought on board a woman who had been drifting at sea for three whole days on the roof of a demolished house. She literally grabbed it with a death grip. The tidal current carried her several times along the strait from Sea of ​​Okhotsk to the ocean and back. Even after several days, the North Kuril woman did not immediately understand what had happened to her - such was the blow to her psyche... But it was November...

Fate was also kind to Mezis himself - that day his ship was docked in Severo-Kurilsk, and he went to see his family in Kozyrevsk, to neighboring Shumsha, which was separated from Severo-Kurilsk by 3 miles across the strait. Mezis saw the whole picture of the arrival of the tsunami from the other shore and managed to climb the hills. And in Kozyrevsk, a wave crushed the local fish processing plant like a bulldozer.

No less amazing is the story of a boy - from Severo-Kurilsk he was carried away by a wave on the gate. They brought him to the village of Babushkino on Shumshu Island. The shock was strong, the child did not understand what had happened or where he was. It didn't thaw right away. And he was not left an orphan - his parents found him.

UNTIL THE WAVE BREAKS...

The 1952 tsunami showed how unprepared local authorities and the local population were to live next to such a formidable phenomenon as a tsunami. No one thought that buildings on the coastal strip were susceptible to being hit by a giant wave. They built on the principle of economic expediency, without regard for safety. Ordinary residents did not pay much attention to the fact that near Japanese houses, the previous owners built stairs to the hills - so that at the first danger they could climb up and protect themselves from the crushing rogue wave. Yes, no one explained to them how to behave during such disasters. The rescue of the drowned turned out to be, in fact, the work of the drowned themselves.

However, after the 1952 tsunami, the Tsunami Warning System began to be created in the USSR, and 1955 is considered the year of its birth.

In 1964, a decision was made by the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR to ban construction in tsunami-hazardous zones. But in addition to this decision, no regulatory framework was created. Therefore, new objects continued to appear in areas within reach of the tsunami. This once again played a cruel joke on the Northern Kuril Islands in 1960.

With the collapse of the Union, the observation system began to collapse, and the tsunami warning system remained technically outdated. It began to revive at the beginning of this century, and this cannot but rejoice, emphasizes V. Kaistrenko. Three research institutes of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, specialists from the Sakhalin Hydrometeorological Service, the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Nizhny Novgorod Technical University are now involved in tsunami research. The regional construction department began work on regulatory framework for design and construction in tsunami-hazardous areas. And the tragedy of 1952 should be a reminder to all of us - we are powerless in the face of the violence of nature, but we have the power to protect ourselves from it in order to prevent the death of people and reduce destruction to a minimum.

A tsunami comparable to the 1952 tsunami occurred in December 2004 off the coast of Indonesia, when more than two hundred thousand of its residents died, many vacationers at Thai resorts, tens and hundreds of residents settlements on the coasts of other countries in the zone Indian Ocean. Unusual experience O. Simelu, located closest to the source of this tsunami, with more than 76 thousand population. 7 people died there, because people knew how to live near a tsunami and escape from the wave. And on other coasts there are terrible losses.

Autumn 1952 East Coast Kamchatka, the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu found themselves on the first line of disaster. North Kuril tsunami 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 villages of Utesny, Levashovo, Reefovy, Kamenisty, Pribrezhny, Galkino, Okeansky, Podgorny, Major Van, Shelekhovo, Savushkino, Kozyrevsky, Babushkino, Baykovo were swept away...

In the fall of 1952, the country lived a normal life. The Soviet press, Pravda and Izvestia, did not get a single line: neither about the tsunami in the Kuril Islands, nor about the thousands of people who died.

The picture of what happened can be reconstructed from the memories of eyewitnesses and rare photographs.

Tsunami in Kamchatka 1952

The writer Arkady Strugatsky, who served as a military translator in the Kuril Islands in those years, took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the tsunami. I wrote to my brother in Leningrad:

“...I was on the island of Syumushu (or Shumshu - look for it at the southern tip of Kamchatka). What I saw, did and experienced there - I can’t write yet. I will only say that I visited the area where the disaster that I wrote to you about made itself felt especially strongly.

Tsunami in Kamchatka 1952

The black island of Syumushu, the island of the wind Syumushu, the ocean hits the rock walls of Syumushu. Anyone who was on Syumusyu, was on Syumusyu that night, remembers how the ocean attacked Syumusyu; How the ocean crashed with a roar onto the piers of Syumushu, and onto the pillboxes of Syumushu, and onto the roofs of Syumushu; As in the hollows of Syumushu, and in the trenches of Syumushu, the ocean raged in the bare hills of Syumushu. And the next morning, Syumusyu, there were many corpses to the walls-rocks of Syumusyu, Syumusyu, carried out by the Pacific Ocean. Black island of Syumushu, island of fear Syumushu. Anyone who lives on Syumushu 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, the work of registering residents in Severo-Kurilsk was not really organized. Seasonal workers, classified military units, the composition of which was not disclosed. According to the official report, in 1952, about 6,000 people lived in Severo-Kurilsk.

In 1951, 82-year-old South Sakhalin resident Konstantin Ponedelnikov went with his comrades to the Kuril Islands to earn extra money. They built houses, plastered walls, and helped install reinforced concrete salting vats at a fish processing plant. In those years Far East there were a lot of newcomers: they arrived for recruitment and 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 single, well, I was young, I came from the street late, already at two or three o’clock. Then he lived in an apartment, rented a room from a fellow countryman, also from Kuibyshev. Just lay down - 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 and lit a cigarette. The ground shook noticeably underfoot. And suddenly, shooting, screams, and noise were heard from the shore. In the light of the ship's searchlights, people were running from the bay. "War!" - they shouted. At least that's what it seemed to the guy at first. Later I realized: a wave! Water!!! Self-propelled guns were coming from the sea towards the hills where the border unit was located. And together with everyone else, Konstantin ran after him, upstairs.

From the report of senior lieutenant of state security P. Deryabin:
“...We didn’t even have time to get to the regional department when we heard a loud noise, then a crash from the direction of the sea. Looking back we saw high altitude a wave of water advancing from the sea onto the island... I gave the order to open fire from personal weapons and shout: “Water is coming!”, simultaneously retreating to the hills. Hearing the noise and screams, people began to run out of the apartments in what they were wearing (most of them in underwear, barefoot) and run into the hills.”

Konstantin Ponedelnikov:
“Our path to the hills lay through a ditch about three meters wide, where wooden walkways were laid for crossing. A woman with a five-year-old boy was running next to me, gasping for breath. I grabbed the child in my arms and together with him jumped over the ditch, from where the strength only came from. And the mother had already climbed over the boards.

On the hill there were army dugouts where training took place. It was there that people settled down to warm up - 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 missing relatives and release livestock from the barns. People didn’t know: a tsunami has 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 poured out again, even greater in strength and magnitude than the first. People, thinking that everything was already over (many, grief-stricken by the loss of their loved ones, children and property), came down from the hills and began to settle in the surviving houses to warm themselves and clothe themselves. The water, encountering no resistance on its way... poured 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 carried 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 Pacific Ocean, 130 km from the coast of Kamchatka. An hour after the powerful (magnitude about 9.0) earthquake, the first tsunami wave reached Severo-Kurilsk. The height of the second, most terrible, wave reached 18 meters. According to official data, 2,336 people died in Severo-Kurilsk alone.

Konstantin Ponedelnikov did not see the waves themselves. First he delivered refugees to the hill, then with several volunteers they went down and spent long hours rescuing people, pulling them out of the water, removing them from roofs. The real scale of the tragedy became clear later.

– I went down to the city... We had a watchmaker there, a good guy, legless. I look: his stroller. And he himself lies next to him, dead. The soldiers put the corpses on a chaise and take them to the hills, where they either end up in a mass grave, or how they buried them - God knows. And along the shore there were barracks and a military sapper unit. One foreman survived; he was at home, but the entire company died. A wave covered them. There was a bullpen, and there were probably people there. Maternity hospital, hospital... Everyone died.

From a letter from Arkady Strugatsky to his brother:

“The buildings were destroyed, the entire shore was littered with logs, pieces of plywood, pieces of fences, gates and doors. There were two old naval artillery towers on the pier; they were installed by the Japanese almost at the end of the Russo-Japanese War. The tsunami threw them about a hundred meters away. When dawn broke, those who managed to escape came down from the mountains - men and women in underwear, shivering from cold and horror. Most of the inhabitants either drowned or lay on the shore mixed 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, found himself on the Amderma steamship, completely filled with fish. Half of the coal hold was unloaded for the people and a tarpaulin was thrown in.

Through Korsakov they were brought 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 sent everyone back to Sakhalin. There was no talk of any material compensation; it would be good if they could at least confirm their length of service. Konstantin was lucky: his work boss remained alive and restored his work books and passports...

Fishing place

Many destroyed villages were never rebuilt. The population of the islands has decreased greatly. The port city of Severo-Kurilsk was rebuilt in a new location, higher up. Without carrying out that same volcanological examination, so as a result the city found itself in even more dangerous place- on the path of the mud flows of the Ebeko volcano, one of the most active in the Kuril Islands.

Life in the port city of Severo-Kurilsk has always been connected with fish. The work was profitable, people came, lived, left - there was some kind of movement. In the 1970-80s, only slackers at sea did not earn one and a half thousand rubles a month (an order of magnitude more than at similar work on the mainland). In the 1990s, the crab was caught and taken to Japan. But in the late 2000s, Rosrybolovstvo had to almost completely ban Kamchatka crab fishing. So that it doesn't disappear completely.

Today, compared to the late 1950s, the population has decreased by three times. Today, about 2,500 people live in Severo-Kurilsk - or, as the locals say, in Sevkur. Of these, 500 are under 18 years of age. In the maternity ward of the hospital, 30-40 citizens of the country are born annually, with “Severo-Kurilsk” listed in the “place of birth” column.

The fish processing factory provides the country with stocks of navaga, flounder and pollock. Approximately half of the workers are local. The rest are newcomers (“verbota”, recruited). They earn approximately 25 thousand a month.

It is not customary here to sell fish to fellow countrymen. There is a whole sea of ​​it, and if you want cod or, say, halibut, you need to come in the evening to the port where fishing ships unload and simply ask: “Hey, brother, wrap up the fish.”

Tourists in Paramushir are still only a dream. Visitors are accommodated in the “Fisherman's House” - a place that is only partially heated. True, the thermal power plant in Sevkur was recently modernized, and a new pier was built in the port.

One problem is the inaccessibility of Paramushir. There are more than a thousand kilometers to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and three hundred to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The helicopter flies once a week, and then only on condition that the weather is good in Petrik, and in Severo-Kurilsk, and at Cape Lopatka, which ends Kamchatka. It's good if you wait a couple of days. Or maybe three weeks...

November 5, 1952 An earthquake occurred 130 km from the Shipunsky Peninsula of Kamchatka. The source of the earthquake was at a depth of 20-30 km. The destruction from the earthquake covered 700 km of coastline: from the Kronotsky Peninsula to the northern Kuril Islands. The damage was minor - pipes collapsed, light buildings were damaged, walls of buildings and permanent structures were cracked.

Much greater destruction and disaster was caused by the tsunami resulting from this earthquake. The height of water rise on average reached 6-7 m.

Destructive tsunami 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 the island, suffered the most from the waves. Paramushir. The urban area occupied a coastal beach with a height of 1-5 m, followed by a slope of a coastal terrace with a height of 10 m. Many buildings were located on it. Some of the buildings were located southwest of the port along the river valley.

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

Below are eyewitness accounts and excerpts from documents that fairly fully describe the dramatic events of 1952.

A. Ya. Mezis
The tragedy of '52

This was from November 4th to November 5th...

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

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

So, when it began to shake violently, many, and, in fact, almost all people did not know at all that there were such waves at 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 the trouble they bring...

I remember jumping out of bed, and the floor being pulled out from under my feet, and the alarm clock falling, and darkness - the light was provided from the power plant until 11-12 o’clock. But I had a battery and a light bulb at home. There are children after all, one is very small - who knows what happens at night? Well, I turned on the light, there was an alarm clock under my feet, and the arrows on the dial showed ten minutes to four. This is etched in my memory... And in the house - it was long, Japanese, barracks type, with eight apartments - there was noise, screams.

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

Then I hear people shouting: “Wave! Wave!”

This was the first, low wave that swept along the shore. She, as I saw later, broke the piers, took off the conveyors along which the fish walked, and washed the lower houses - up to the windows. People, of course, were terribly alarmed by this. They all ran away at once - so we had no casualties here.

But further on - there the shore immediately rose steeply up to more than 30 meters above sea level - there seemed to be a strong seething and again shouts: “Wave, wave!” Then it hit me: “Stop! After a strong earthquake there can be big waves.” I told my wife: “Come on, get up and get the guys dressed, you see, they’re shouting “wave” there.” Wife: “What, is it shaking for the first time? Once it shakes, it stops.” I don’t have the habit of swearing, but here I fired, as they say, from the top floor: “Get up! Get the guys dressed!” And I myself think: like friends there, Kostya Todorov, Sashka Erushevich are Odessa residents. We need to run and have a look. They remained there, closer to the sea.

Well, I left the house. And the night is bright and quiet. The moon is directly above the strait. I reached their house - it was intact, only it was noticeable that the water was rising to the windows. And the sand around was so leveled, well, just like nice beach. And the piers are torn apart...

Then two guys joined me, one was the foreman of a military boat and the second was a fish processor at a cannery. So the three of us walked down the shore, and the water in the sea receded, the bottom became bare. This guy, a fish processor, said: “Look, the bottom is appearing, and there is sand even where we were anchored - there was no room at the pier.” We saw someone's anchor broken. And the guy grinned: “If the water goes away like this, then we will arrive in Severo-Kurilsk in an hour.” And I said: “Guys, this is a bad omen. It seems that the bottom is being exposed before a new wave.”

Soon our attention was attracted by some kind of rumble from the direction of the ocean. This hum grew stronger and stronger all the time. We looked towards the ocean, and under the moon there was such a light stripe across the water. Not just a path, but a strip. When we saw her, she was thin. And then she began to gain weight. “Guys,” I said, “this roar... the streak is a wave rolling, let’s get out of here.” At that moment I remembered how the sea textbook wrote about these waves. And at first we were away from it - step by step, but it grew with enormous 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 a path, and along it - up and up. We ran up to the hill, we should have gone further, but we had no strength, our heart was pounding terribly. We paused. We see - the gray mass of the shaft does not seem to be rolling very quickly, but what a bulk!.. And then it hit the plant, partially covered it and seemed to push it - all these buildings instantly began to float, falling apart into logs and boards, and the water drove them ahead myself. She carried everything, demolishing, chewing other buildings on her way, and literally in just two or three minutes swept along the entire shore. Then the water began to drop and roll down.

The shore opened up. And we stand with our eyes bulging and don’t believe what we see. There were buildings - nothing. As a janitor walked by with a broom and swept everything away, the coast was clean.

Then we see, when we looked towards Severo-Kurilsk, although it was not daytime, you couldn’t see it well, but we saw that black water was gushing out from there - it was the ruins of the city that filled the bay, and from them came screams. Heartbreaking screams. We stand and watch. What to do?!

Here, in front of us, there was a small ravine with a stream running through it, and this entire ravine was clogged with debris from the factory: boards, logs, beams, and iron rods were sticking out. How are our barracks? How is it there?.. To see them, you have to go around - it’s far and scary, and you need to know faster whether the children and wife are alive. I climbed through these debris to get to the border post. There, on its territory, I already noticed people - the whole yard was filled; crying, screaming. I ran there and looked for my people.

I look - my wife is standing. I approached her, and she stood there and couldn’t say anything out of fear - she and the children also saw how this water shaft rolled. Suddenly I see: she is holding the youngest upside down - instead of his head, his heel is sticking out of the blanket, and he is silent there. “Turn it over,” I said. She turned him over and re-wrapped him.

There was a house above the border post, old people lived in it - we were friends with them. They treated us well. Old man Lukashenko himself is from Ukraine. I told my wife: “Let’s go to Lukashenko.” Others went there and crowded into the house. All the women, I see, are terribly frightened, pale, one is shaking, another’s cheek is twitching.

I pushed Fedya - he was a captain on a Japanese schooner: “Come on, there’s a barrel there, you know?..” Let’s go, open that barrel and pour 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 - towards morning, towards dawn. But the strait is still full of debris and the screams of people do not stop - asking for help...

The ship "Amderma" arrived, then the "Krasnogorsk". We dropped anchor. The boats were lowered. Between the wreckage - on boats, they were pushed with oars. How many people did they pull out?

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

In addition, realizing that people needed to change clothes and eat, they caught various bales and boxes - mainly they hunted for food and clothing. Near the fireplace, which was heated at full blast, the rescued were drying their shirts and blankets... Our cook, using flour and egg powder - we also caught this in the water - was constantly preparing omelettes and flatbreads.

Soon it began to snow, blizzard, and stormy winds. Visibility has decreased. We continue to look for people. We noticed among the rubble a quilted blanket, so pink and satin. We approached him, hooked him with a hook - maybe we’ll dry him and give him to someone. They pulled, and underneath there was a window frame, and the child’s corpse was stuck in it. We didn't take the blanket...

When we made our way to Severo-Kurilsk, we were afraid of running into something that could damage either the side or the propeller. We saw a shore crane. The crane fell into the sea, and this is the picture: its boom sticks out of the water with a hook, which is used 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 was hanging facing the arrow and apparently hit it - his face was broken, and he was hanging in shorts and a T-shirt, barefoot. We wanted to get 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... We moved away, and further on, from a hole half-covered with gravel and sand, an arm and legs were sticking out. Creepy...

People, when we told them: load onto the seiner, first of all children, women and old people, we will leave - people walked past the corpses in a chain, recognized their relatives and remained ossified in silence, as if not understanding anything - the horror paralyzed their consciousness so much, that they couldn't even cry. There were 50-65 people on deck - mostly sitting. And we walked to the ship.

In the morning, several steamships had already appeared in the roadstead and there were ships approaching us - from the ocean, a total of 10 or more. These are ours. But the Americans also approached - a warship and merchant ships. They offered their services, but were refused. Firstly, they do nothing for free, and secondly, they considered that their ships were quite enough to evacuate people.

And so for four days the search for people at sea and their delivery to ships continued. 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 such a terrible picture appeared before people’s eyes. The people were already more organized, somewhat calmer, some were dressed in what they had dropped from the planes, others had collected bundles with some food. But these were probably not the residents of Severo-Kurilsk, the most densely populated area, which was covered by the wave by about two-thirds, but its outskirts - the flood did not touch them, but only scared them.


What did I see then and what did I remember? For example, the ascent to the volcanoes begins, they stand steeply, but in this direction there is a flat area. The Japanese had an airfield on it - a wooden flooring made of beams for aircraft. Our beams were taken away. There were some military people here, some civilians lived in houses. The wave arrived here already weakened, bought a fair amount of people, but there seemed to be no deaths.

And here, behind this toe, - high cliffs, at low tide we walked along the shore to Kataoko (Baykovo), at high tide - only along the upper path. But further on there were many buildings right on the shore. There were piers here, and small military and fishing vessels moored to them. And we came here more than once to fill up with fresh water - so many people died here.

Here's another place. Also a low bank. Here, on the ocean side, approximately two battalions of soldiers were located, 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 instantly destroyed, the guys were caught up in the water... And who could escape, and how long could the survivor, undressed, hold out in cold water- it's November. On the shore, it was even difficult to light a fire and warm up - not everyone succeeded.

I remember in Korsakov, in the commission that dealt with the accommodation of victims of the natural disaster, they named a preliminary figure - 10 thousand people. They thought so many died. Well, then they started talking differently: less than a thousand, and half a thousand. When in Severo-Kurilsk alone many more could have died... Actually, it is still unknown how many victims there actually were in that terrible disaster.

Now in front of me military map(double layout), it is now declassified. Here is Shumshu Island, a strait, here is a low shore, people lived on it, here the height is about 30 meters above sea level, then again it’s downhill, hilly. There was one cannery here, another there, and in the same area there was a store, a radio station, a ship hull shop, and fish store warehouses. And over there stood the Kozyrevsky fish processing plant. And on the mountain - people then called it Dunkin’s navel - there was a surveillance and communications service.

And in this direction there was a wave blow. When it went into the sea, perhaps it was 20 meters high, and when it wedged itself into a narrow place, and at such a monstrous speed, it naturally reared up and in some places, perhaps, reached a height of 35 meters. I have already said how before my eyes the plant was demolished. The same thing happened with others. And with all the buildings that fell under its wild power.

Below were the fishmonger's warehouses. Naturally, they were destroyed, the goods there were different, the textiles were scattered. Some rolls were unwound, can you imagine?

There was something funny too. We had one little fool - Masha, so she then comes up to the unwound fabric and is going to cut off a piece. The soldier says to her: “Why are you touching it!”, and she: “This is mine, it was taken from the house.” Well, he chased her away, and she came in from the other end, as they say, 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 about 20-25 minutes later, had such enormous destructive power that it tore multi-ton objects from their place.

The entire city was washed out into the strait in a mass of debris, then carried back and forth, so that already on the third day people were taken off the roofs of destroyed houses; These were Japanese wooden houses, solidly made; under the influence of forces they could squint or move, but they fell apart completely slowly and difficultly.

And so, in the wind, in the snowfall, which began shortly after the tsunami, the woman was carried on the roof, and on the third day we took her down. Naturally, all this time she tried in every possible way to hold on, her fingernails were torn off, her elbows and knees were beaten to the bone. And when we filmed her, she kept clinging to this roof. Where can she go, how else can she help?

A destroyer stood nearby. For some reason, the military sailors did not allow civilian ships to approach their board, we still approached it, the watch officer waved: “Move away!” I shouted to him that we had a very seriously wounded woman and she definitely needed to be taken to the infirmary. The senior officer came out and ordered: “Take the mooring lines!” We approached, dropped the mooring lines, and then the sailors came running with stretchers...

And on the very first morning after this flood, as soon as it was dawn, planes flew in from Petropavlovsk, and the people who managed to climb up the hills from the wave, those people were half dressed, some in what, some were wet. Well, they started throwing off warm clothes, blankets, and food. This, of course, helped people a lot.

All night long, fires burned on the hills; people warmed themselves near them; they were afraid to go down to where they had lived yesterday. What if again?.. Moreover, they announced: they say, there may be more waves and even more. But fortunately, there were no new waves.

The only plant that completely survived the elements was the one that stood in Shelikhov Bay, on the side of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, it remained absolutely unharmed, except that the water wet it, that’s all.

But in general, the tragedy was very big, monstrous, one cannot talk or write about something like this in passing. As soon as you remember about it again, more and more people and terrible pictures appear before your eyes.

After all, it was before the holiday - before November 7th. But there, in the Kuril Islands, it’s not like in big cities, preparations for the holiday were almost imperceptible - people there usually prepared for a long winter. We stocked up on food. For example, at home I had plywood barrels with egg powder and dry milk. Of course, there was fish too. I need meat, so I went and took the whole lamb carcass. Fruits were also never bought in kilograms, usually a box, two, or even more. It was difficult to stock up on vegetables, but they were also stocked up as best they could from the ships that visited us. But on holidays, of course, there would be more free time. And there would have been widespread drinking... If such a disaster had occurred during the holidays, there would have been many more victims.

It’s already late, as they say, a lot of time has flown by, but we need to talk and write about that tragedy - there are still eyewitnesses of that disaster left in some places. And I hardly ever see my friends from that time. Korbut, who lives in Nevelsk if he hasn’t left, is a foreman of divers for repairing the underwater part of ships. Then in Chekhov - Kost, a Greek, is also an eyewitness to this. Polishchuk - senior assistant, died.

Then how was this covered in the press? For example, Moscow newspapers arrive, and what do 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 great prohibition, everything was hidden, turned into big secret. And these documents were classified as “Secret”.

We, the victims, were officially given aid so that we could travel 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 was only given my salary in mid-December. This probably held me and many others back somehow. They also gave out a lot of clothes, both new and used.

In Voroshilov (now Ussuriysk) they even treated us with envy, who were temporarily transferred there: we ate for free, they brought goods to us, 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 they can’t buy anything, but new goods are coming to us; They even took us back and forth on trains 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 what happened on the edge 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 Kuril Islands, some lived in dormitories, they had nothing except the clothes they were wearing. And then my friends gathered as witnesses and let’s tell the commission: they say, he had this and that. One, for example, kept telling everyone that on the island he had a leather coat and leather gloves, everything, they say, was swept away into the sea. Well, he received three thousand and actually began to walk around in a leather coat, and put on leather gloves with long fingers, and incredible shoes. They called him a parrot, but he achieved his goal.

But that's just a small thing. But there, in the land of grief, there was also looting... For example, when we were already in Voroshilov, one of us from the ocean fish factory also, as expected, received help and began to buy things in stores, but everything was more expensive, and gold and silver . They paid attention to her and saw what she was buying. Well, of course, they made inquiries: she received three thousand, but bought thirty thousand.

And then at night, at the Sugar Factory club, where we were temporarily placed and we put guards on duty for the night, because there were scumbags who were not averse to profiting from other people’s goods, and the fact that people survived the tragedy did not interest them - and so suddenly they appeared uncles in sheepskin coats. Who are they? For what? Well, they showed us their IDs - they were the police, then they asked us to find witnesses from among those who were still awake, and the manager of the club would not hurt to come here. The woman was then awakened and presented with a search warrant. And they started fiddling with her things. She, of course: “Shame on you, where are you going?” And when they unwrapped the laundry and saw a bundle of money, not yet completely dry, she became quiet. Then money was found in the suitcase, in its double bottom. Of course, they began to find out where she acquired such capital.

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

And in Vladivostok, at the marine terminal, I saw a different picture. This is when we came there after the disaster. My wife was with the children, her sister was with the 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 on the eve of the tsunami - it was cold there. And so we go with the children and with the things we managed to grab. And another with suitcases, one thicker than the other. Well, just like some kind of huckster from a rich region. They say to him: “Go through that door over there.” Then, you see, he comes out of there with nothing - he was shaken up, and under escort.

So there was everything in this tragedy: death, injury, madness, grief, looting, profit, heroism, sympathy, and compassion...

That's how people are. That is life.

***

1. From a special report from the head of the North Kuril police department about the natural disaster - the tsunami that occurred in the North Kuril region on November 5, 1952 (Local History Bulletin No. 4, 1991 of the Sakhalin Regional local history museum and the Sakhalin branch of the All-Russian Cultural Fund.)

At 4 o'clock in the morning on November 5, 1952, a strong earthquake began in the city of Severo-Kurilsk and the region, lasting about 30 minutes, which damaged buildings and destroyed stoves in houses.

Minor hesitations still continued when I went to the district police department to check the damage to the district department building 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 from 5 to 20 cm wide, formed as a result of the earthquake. Arriving at the regional department, I saw that the building had been broken into two halves due to the earthquake, the stoves had crumbled, the duty squad... were in place...

At this time there were no longer any shocks, the weather was very calm... Before we had time to reach the regional department, we heard a loud noise, then a crash from the direction of the sea. Looking around, we saw a large water shaft advancing from the sea onto the island. Since the regional department was located at a distance of 150 m from the sea, and the bullpen was about 50 m from the sea, the bullpen immediately became the first victim of the water... I gave the order to open fire from personal weapons and shout: “Water is coming!”, while simultaneously retreating to the hills. Hearing the noise and screams, people began to run out of the apartments in what they were wearing (most of them in underwear, barefoot) and run to the hills.

After about 10-15 minutes, the first wave of water began to recede, and some people went to their houses to collect their surviving belongings.

I and a group of my workers went to the regional department to clarify the situation and rescue the survivor. Approaching the place, we found nothing, there was only a clean place left...

At this time, that is, approximately 15-20 minutes after the departure of the first wave, a wave of water gushed out again, even greater in strength and magnitude than the first. People, thinking that everything was already over (many, grief-stricken by the loss of their loved ones, children and property), came down from the hills and began to settle in the surviving houses to warm themselves and clothe themselves. The water, encountering no resistance on its way (the first shaft swept away a significant part of the buildings), rushed onto the 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 recede, the water gushed out a third time and carried almost everything that was located from the buildings in the city into the sea.

For 20 - 30 minutes (the time of two almost simultaneous waves of enormous force) the city was filled with a terrible noise of seething water and breaking buildings. Houses and roofs of houses were thrown like matchboxes and carried 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, panicked, throwing away the things they had taken and losing their children, and rushed to run higher into the mountains.

After this, the water began to recede 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 of civilians and military personnel began to rob the houses remaining on the slopes of the hills, smash safes and other personal and state property scattered throughout the city...

By order of the garrison commander, Major General Duka, Captain Kalinenkov and a group of soldiers took over the security of the State Bank...

By 10 a.m. on November 5, 1952, approximately all personnel had been assembled. It has been established that among the employees of the regional police department there is no passport officer V.I. Korobanov. with the child and secretary-typist L.I. Kovtun. with child and mother. According to inaccurate information, Korobanov and Kovtun were picked up by a boat on the open sea, put on a steamer and sent to Petropavlovsk. The wives of police officers Osintsev and Galmutdinov died. Of the 22 people held in the bullpen, 7 people were saved...

On November 6, a commission was organized at the party-economic asset to evacuate the population, supply them with food and clothing... An order was given to the squad commander Matveenko to immediately gather rank and file... However, most of the personnel left the gathering place without permission and by the evening of November 6 boarded the ship "Uelen"...

The natural disaster completely destroyed the building of the regional police department, the bullpen, and 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 garrison soldiers, having drunk on the alcohol, cognac and champagne scattered around the city, began looting...

In the Okeansky fish processing plant on November 5, 1952, after destruction, a safe was found containing 280 thousand rubles belonging to the plant... The crew members of the Oceansky Plant... broke into the safe and stole 274 thousand rubles...

At the Babushkino and Kozyrevskoye fish processing plants, at the time of the natural disaster, military personnel stole a large amount of inventory belonging to the fishing factories.

Based on the stated facts, the military personnel informed the command to take 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 the 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, state security colonel Comrade Smirnov, together with members of the commission of the regional committee of the CPSU, he flew to the North Kuril region.(1)

During his stay in the North Kuril region from November 8 to December 6, 1952, from conversations with the affected population, party, Soviet and scientific workers, as well as as a result of personal observations and study of places subject to flooding and destruction, I established that on November 5, 1952 year at 3 hours 55 minutes on the islands Kuril ridge, including Paramushir, Shumshu, Alaid and Onekotan, an earthquake of great destructive force occurred. The cause of the earthquake, as scientists explain, was the constant pressure of the continent's crust to the east. Due to the fact that the bottom of the Seas of Japan and Okhotsk consists of hard basalt rock that can withstand 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 Tuskoror depression. At a depth of 7-8 thousand m, approximately 200 km east of the island of Paramushir, at the moment of gigantic compression of the depression, a sharp rise of the ocean floor (fault) occurred, possibly with subsequent volcanic eruption, which displaced a huge mass of water, which in the form of a shaft reached the islands of the Kuril ridge.

As a result of the earthquake, the city of Severo-Kurilsk, the villages of Okeanskoye, Utesnoye, Levashovo, Kamenisty, Galkino, Podgorny and others were destroyed and swept away by the wave. The earthquake continued with varying strengths several times a day throughout November, December and after. At one o'clock in the morning on November 16, the Yuzhny volcano began to erupt. At first, strong explosions with flashes occurred, and then lava and ash poured out of the crater of the volcano, carried by the wind for 30 - 50 km and covering the ground 7 - 8 cm.

Judging by the explanations of eyewitnesses, the earthquake began like this: on November 5, 1952, at 3:55 a.m., residents of the city of Severo-Kurilsk were awakened by strong tremors, accompanied by numerous underground explosions, reminiscent of distant artillery cannonade. As a result of the vibrations of the earth's crust, buildings were deformed, plaster fell from the ceiling and walls, stoves were destroyed, cabinets and 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 a storm.

The tremors, either increasing or decreasing in strength, continued for 30 - 35 minutes. Then there was silence. Residents of Severo-Kurilsk, accustomed to the previously occurring periodic ground vibrations, in the first minutes of the earthquake on November 5 believed that it would quickly stop, so they ran out into the street half-naked to escape falling objects and destruction. The weather that night was warm, only in some places the first snow that had fallen the day before remained. It was an unusually moonlit night.

As soon as the earthquake stopped, the population returned to their apartments to continue sleeping, and individual citizens, in order to prepare for the holiday, immediately began repairing apartments destroyed by the earthquake, unaware of the impending danger.

At about 5 o'clock in the morning, people who were on the street, from the direction of the sea, heard an unusually menacing and ever-increasing noise and, at the same time, gun shots in the city. As it turned out later, the shots were fired by workers and military personnel, who were among the first to notice the movement of the wave. They turned their attention to the strait. At that time, in the strait between the islands of Shumshu and Paramushir, against the backdrop of the moonlight from the ocean, a huge water shaft was noticed. It suddenly appeared 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 was the impression, by the way, among the population of other villages that were flooded. The hope of salvation was determined in only a few tens of seconds. Residents of the city, who were on the street, raised a cry: “Save yourself! The water is coming!” Most of the people in underwear, barefoot, grabbed children and rushed to the hill. Meanwhile, the water shaft has already collapsed on coastal buildings. The city was filled with the crash of destroyed buildings, heartbreaking screams and screams of people drowning and being chased by the water wall running towards the hill.

The first shaft rolled 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, and 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 menacing wave of water 10 - 15 meters high again rapidly rolled along the strait. The shaft, with a noise and roar, hit the northeastern ledge of the Paramushir island in the area of ​​​​the city of Severo-Kurilsk and, having broken against it, one wave rolled further along the strait in the northwestern direction, destroying coastal buildings on the islands Shumshu and Paramushir on its way, and the other, describing an arc along the North Kuril Lowland in a south-eastern direction, fell on the city of Severo-Kurilsk, frantically rotating around the depression and with rapid convulsive jerks, washing away to the ground all buildings and structures located on the ground 10 - 15 meters above the level seas.

The force of the water shaft in its rapid movement was so enormous that small in size but heavy in weight objects, such as: machines installed on rubble bases, one and a half ton safes, tractors, cars - were torn from their places, circling in the whirlpool along with wooden objects, and then scattered over a huge area or carried into the strait.

As an indicator of the enormous destructive power of the second wave, the example of the State Bank storeroom, which is a reinforced concrete block weighing 15 tons, is typical. It was torn off from a 4 sq.m rubble base and thrown 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 by 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 still won’t leave you, let us all drown together.” They pick up the old woman in their arms and try to run, but at that moment an incoming wave picks them up and throws them all together onto a hill. They are saved.

Losev's mother and young daughter, fleeing 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 there, not far from the swimming Losevs, a little girl was seen on the board; as it later turned out, three-year-old Svetlana Embankment miraculously escaped, who then disappeared and then reappeared on the crest of the wave. From time to time she tucked her brown hair, blown by the wind, back with her little hand, 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, interfering with the navigation of boats. The first attempts to break through on boats were unsuccessful - continuous rubble prevented progress, and fishing gear got wrapped around the propellers. But then a boat separated from the shore of Shumshu Island and slowly made its way forward through the rubble. Here he approaches the floating roof, the boat crew quickly removes the Losevs, and then carefully removes Svetlana from the board. The people who had been sitting with bated breath breathed a sigh of relief.

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

Many responsible workers, notifying the population of the impending danger until the last minute, themselves became victims of the elements. Thus, 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 a lot of courage, initiative and resourcefulness were shown. For example, when a second, more menacing wave approaches fishing village Levashovo fishermen Puzachkov and Zimovin, believing that the island would flood, raised a cry: “Brothers! Save yourself on the kungas!” 18 men, women and children boarded the kungas, but before they could take the oars, they were caught by the ebb of the wave and carried far into the ocean. Thanks to their resourcefulness, replacing the oars with boards, they sailed to the shore on the second day. Comrade Zimovin and Puzachkov, together with their wives, actively participated in the collection of state property...

Many captains and crews of boats actively participated in rescuing people and property, and then in transporting people from the island to ships during significant storms without casualties. At the same time, a number of team members showed cowardice, abandoning the ships to the mercy of fate, and fled to the mainland with the first ships.

And, if the majority of the population, half-naked, with children under open air pierced by strong wind, rain and snow, courageously and steadfastly endured all hardships; individuals, taking advantage of the natural disaster, appropriated state values, property and disappeared with the first ships. Individuals, including some military personnel, were engaged in looting... Many cases of looting were prevented by the military command, the population itself and the police...

As a result of a natural disaster, an almost empty area of ​​several square kilometers was formed on the site of the city of Severo-Kurilsk, and the existence of the city here is reminded only by individual foundations of buildings demolished by the wave, roofs of houses thrown out of the strait, lonely standing monument warriors 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 huge area. The second wave caused especially enormous destruction to the city. The third wave of water that followed 20 - 25 minutes later was less significant in height and strength, did not cause any destruction, and there was nothing to destroy. The third wave threw debris of buildings and various property out of the strait, which partially remained on the coast of the bay.

According to preliminary data, during the disaster, 1,790 civilians, military personnel died: officers - 15 people, soldiers - 169 people, family members - 14 people. Enormous damage was caused to the state, estimated at more than 85 million rubles through the Rybolovpotrebsoyuz. Great damage was caused to Voentorg, the military department, city and municipal services and private individuals. (3)

Severo-Kurilsk, along with industry, institutions, and housing, was almost completely destroyed and washed away into the sea. The population was about 6,000 people, of whom about 1,200 died. All but a few corpses were washed out to sea. What remained were several houses located on a hill, a power station, part of the fleet and a lot of scattered property, canned goods, wine products and clothing. Also preserved are the main warehouse of the North Kuril Fishery and Consumer Union and Military Trade Union, several dozen horses, cows and pigs belonging to no one knows who.


In the village of Utesny (4), all production facilities and buildings were completely destroyed and washed into the ocean. One residential building and a stable remained... cigarettes, shoes, butter, cereals and other products were scattered in the water; 19 heads of cattle, 5 horses, 5 pigs and about 10 tons of hay. There were no casualties - the population was about 100 people, who were completely evacuated.

The village of Levashovo (5) - all enterprises, a store and a fish store warehouse were washed into the ocean. 7 residential buildings and a tent have survived. The population consisted of 57 people, there were no casualties, everyone was evacuated. There were 28 heads of cattle, 3 horses and two kungas left.

Reef settlement (6) - no casualties. All production facilities and premises were destroyed and washed away into the ocean. What remained intact were the refrigerator equipment, the central material warehouse and 41 residential buildings. The fleet was also destroyed, with the exception of 8 kungas and several broken boats. From the subsidiary farm, 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. The entire population, more than 400 people, were 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. There is only one house left from the housing stock.

Pribrezhny village - all industrial buildings and premises were destroyed and carried into the ocean. There remain 9 residential buildings located on a hill and one warehouse for technical and material property. There are no human casualties. The living population, less than 100 people, was completely evacuated.

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

Okeansky settlement (7) - it housed a fish processing plant, a cannery, a caviar factory with workshops and two refrigerators, mechanical workshops, power plants, a sawmill, a school, a hospital and others government agencies. According to preliminary data, 460 people died from the disaster, 542 people survived and were evacuated. What remained were 32 residential buildings, 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 cereal, 25 tons of oats, 30 barrels of alcohol and other valuables. All industrial enterprises and housing stock were destroyed and washed away into the ocean.

The village of Podgorny (8) - it housed a whaling plant. All production facilities, warehouses, as well as almost the entire housing stock were destroyed and washed away into the ocean. The population was more than 500 people, 97 people survived and were evacuated. In the village there are 55 residential buildings, more than 500 poultry, 6 ten-ton tanks and, on the site of a former warehouse, several dozen bags of flour and other products.

The village of Baza Boevaya was mothballed before the disaster. There was no population living at the time of the disaster. All enterprises were destroyed by water. There are two residential buildings left and one tank with a capacity of up to 800 tons.

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

The village of Mayor Van - the base of the Shelekhovsky fish processing plant was located there. The village was not damaged. The population has been evacuated.

The village of Shelekhovo (9) - there was a fish factory there. The population was 805 people, there was 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 were no casualties, no destruction.

The village of Kozyrevsky (11) - there were two fish factories there. The population was more than 1000 people, 10 people died from the disaster. The rest of the population was evacuated. Both factories were completely destroyed and washed out to sea. There are many cans of flounder and Kuril salmon scattered along the water.

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

The administrative building of the North Kuril district branch of the State Bank was also completely demolished, the documentation was washed away into the sea, but the safes and storage room of the State Bank, with the exception of one safe, were found near the location of the administrative building, in which all valuables worth about 9 million rubles were fully preserved. The values ​​of savings banks have been preserved in the villages of Shelekhovo, Baykovo and others, only 11 out of 14 savings banks; in the rest, the values ​​have been partially lost.

Safes belonging to Severo-Kurilskaya central cash register, 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, Okeanskoye, Rifovoy, Galkino and on Alaid Island, there was panic among the population, as a result of which in these points all state and public property was abandoned to chaos fate...

Between November 14 and November 26, the border guards returned. By this time, in all populated areas, 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 to 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. Commission and police officers were sent to the villages to supervise the collection and protection of property...

As a result, during the period from November 10 to November 20, 1952, that is, before the snow drifts... in Severo-Kurilsk, alcohol and vodka products worth 8.75 million rubles were collected and stored in the warehouses of the Rybolovpotrebsoyuz, 126 tons of flour, which was delivered to warehouses military units..., 16 horses, 112 heads of cattle, 33 heads of small cattle, 9 heifers, 90 pigs, 32 piglets, 6 sheep. A large amount of material assets were collected and saved in the villages of Okeanskoye, Rifovoy and others.

On November 23, I, together with members of the commission of the regional committee of the CPSU Comrade Kuskov and the secretary of the district committee of the CPSU Comrade Orlov, traveled in a seiner to the villages of Rifovoye, Okeanskoye, Shelekhovo, where they received necessary measures to strengthen the safety of the remaining property and ensure public order. Due to a strong storm, it was not necessary to land in other villages. By the time of departure, November 6..., Comrade Bezrodny (police officer) was offered...

Upon arrival, police officers are sent to protect public order in the following villages: Shelekhovo - 2 people, Rifovoye - 1 person, Okeanskoye - 1 person, Kozyrevskoye - 1 person;
- carefully take into account the entire population of the villages in the region, including the sailing crew;
- take an active part in organizing work to collect and protect state valuables remaining on the banks, as well as personal property of citizens...;
- wage a decisive fight against looting;
- take measures to identify those killed during a natural disaster, ensure the collection of documents of the victims...

Police Lieutenant Colonel Smirnov

3. From the interrogation protocol drawn up at the police department of Severo-Kurilsk

November 20, 1952

I, deputy head of the police department of the UMGB Sakhalin region, police colonel Smirnov, interrogated as a witness Pavel Ivanovich Smolin, born in 1925, native Krasnodar region, Kurganinsky district, Rodnikovskaya village, non-partisan, Russian, 6th grade education, married, 4-year-old son. Works on logger N 636 as a radio operator (13); lived in Severo-Kurilsk, st. Sovetskaya, barracks No. 49, apt. 13; we do not judge; Doesn't have any documents...

Testimony on the merits of the case:

I have been working on logger N 636, owned by the North Kuril Fish Factory, as a radio operator since May or June 1952, and in total I have been working in the fishing industry on the North Kuril Islands since 1950. On the night of November 5, 1952, I, along with other fishermen, were at sea on a logger (fishing), or rather, we were in a ladle. At about 4 o'clock in the morning a great shaking 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 around 4 o'clock in the morning.

Walking along the Second Strait in the area of ​​Cape Banzhov, our logger was covered by the first wave several meters high. While in the cockpit, I felt that our ship seemed to be lowered into a hole, and then thrown high up. A few minutes later a second wave followed and the same thing happened again. Then the ship sailed calmly, and no surges were felt. The ship was at sea all day. Only at about 6 p.m. did some military radio station transmit to us: “Return to Severo-Kurilsk immediately. We are waiting at the apparatus. Alperin.” I immediately reported to the captain, who immediately answered: “I am returning to Severo-Kurilsk immediately.” By that time we had on board up to 70 quintals of fish caught per day. 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?” Radio operator Pokhodenko answered me: “Go to save 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 on the 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 fine there. This was the end of the conversation.

Even in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, before reaching the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu, the logger’s team, including me, saw roofs of houses, logs, boxes, barrels, beds, and doors floating towards us. By order of the captain, the crew was posted on the deck on both sides and on the bow in order to rescue people stranded 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 towards us. Following them were two military boats. Some signals were given from the latter: apparently, with the aim of stopping the boats ahead. 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 abandon them and took anchor. There was no connection with the shore. The time was around 2-3 am on November 6, 1952. We were waiting for dawn. Lights were burning on the hills opposite Severo-Kurilsk. We believed that people were fleeing on the hills; there were a lot of fires burning. As dawn began, 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, Comrade Kryvchik, sailed on a boat to the cannery and landed here. People, including military men, were walking around the site of the city - collecting corpses... Having examined the place where the barracks in which I lived was located, I did not find any signs (of him)... I did not find any things belonging to me - that’s all was demolished. In my apartment I had clothes, a sewing machine, a savings book with a deposit of 15 thousand rubles, a military ID, seven medals...

My family - wife, Smolina Anna Nikiforova, son, Alexander, four years old, arrived on November 6, 1953 by refrigerator from Vladivostok. She was on vacation and went to pick up her son in Krasnodar region, to her homeland... I found her on a refrigerator on November 8th. Now his wife and son are on board logger N 636, working as a cook.

After I did not find the barracks in which I lived, I left by boat to my logger, taking on board people from the shore, including women and children. The logger's crew continued to transport people on board.

On the 7th or 8th of November we received a radiogram: “All people taken on board from among those in distress must be transferred to the ship,” so we transferred all of them to ships whose names I don’t remember. The evacuation of the civilian population ended on November 9 and no more people came to us.

From among the members of the crew of logger N 636, they found their families who escaped on the hills in Severo-Kurilsk, captain Lymar - his wife, senior engineer Filippov - his wife and daughter, second mate Nevzorov - his wife; the third assistant mechanic Ivanov found a wife and four children; boarded the ship and left. First assistant mechanic Petrov found his wife and son and also left on the ship. The remaining family members live on the ship. In addition to the indicated persons who left the ship without permission, the boatswain, the trawl master and the trawl master's assistant disappeared... to this day the third mate has not returned on board. As a result, only 15 people remained from the logger team...

Smolin (signature)

Whaling ship washed ashore by the 1952 tsunami.


Severo-Kurilsk today


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

NOTES:

1. A group of responsible workers 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) - born in Odessa into a working-class family. He 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 establishment of a fish factory and factories in Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. On May 7, 1952, he was appointed manager of the North Kuril State Fish Trust. Died on November 5, 1952 while saving people and state property during the tsunami in Severo-Kurilsk. Buried on November 7. Grave of M.S. Alperina is a monument to the history and culture of the Sakhalin region.
3. The issue of victims 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 for food and material assets, almost all institutions, cultural and social enterprises and almost 70% of the housing stock were destroyed and washed into the sea. Only the Shelekhovsky fish processing plant with its bases along the shore of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, where the wave height was no more than 5 meters, remained unharmed.
4. The village of Utesny was located 7 km from the city of Severo-Kurilsk. Excluded from the registration data as a populated area by decision of the regional executive committee No. 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 populated area by decision of the regional executive committee No. 502 of December 29, 1962.
6. The village of Rifovoye, the center of the village council of the same name. It was located in Rifovaya Bay. Excluded from the registration data as a populated area in 1962. The Reef Fishing Plant had branches in the villages of Pribrezhny and Kamenisty.
7. The village of Okeansky was the center of the village council of the same name. Here was the central base of the fish processing plant with branches in the villages of Galkino and Boevaya. Settlements were excluded from the registration data in 1962.
8. The settlement of Podgorny was excluded from the registration data by decision of the regional executive committee No. 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 populated area by decision of the regional executive committee No. 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 populated area by decision of the regional executive committee No. 161 of April 10, 1973.
11. The village of Kozyrevsky was the center of the village council of the same name. Excluded from the registration data as a populated area by decision of the regional executive committee No. 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 populated area by decision of the regional executive committee No. 161 of April 10, 1973.
13. Logger - fishing vessel of the SRT type.
14. At dawn on November 5, reconnaissance planes from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky appeared over the islands, inspecting the area and taking photographs. Following the scouts, throughout the day warm clothes, tents and food were dropped from airplanes for the affected population, who were fleeing around the fires. From dawn, planes began landing at the airport on Shumshu Island and taking 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 swept out to sea. Food and warm clothing were distributed to the population from military warehouses, and the sick were placed in the hospital.
15. The evacuation of the affected population of the North Kuril region began on November 6, 1952. Steamships from Petropavlovsk and Vladivostok began to arrive in the Second Kuril Strait. There were 40 vessels of various capacities waiting for loading here. By November 11, the entire population was evacuated. Most of them soon returned through Korsakov and Kholmsk to work in the Sakhalin region.

© Local History Bulletin No. 4, 1991

Afterword.

Many destroyed villages and border outposts were never rebuilt. The population of the islands has decreased greatly. Severo-Kurilsk was rebuilt, moving it away from the ocean as far as the terrain allowed. As a result, he found himself in an even more dangerous place - on the cone of mud flows of the Ebeko volcano, one of the most active in the Kuril Islands. The population of the city today is about 3 thousand people. The disaster initiated the creation of a tsunami warning service in the USSR, which is now in a sad state due to meager funding. Against this background, the statements of the Russian authorities that, having such a service, we are insured against a catastrophe like the 2004 tsunami, look ridiculous South-East Asia. At this stage, our main “insurance” is the almost complete absence of settlements on the country’s Pacific coast.

In Severo-Kurilsk, the expression “living like on a volcano” can be used without quotation marks. There are 23 volcanoes on the island of Paramushir, five of them are active. Ebeko, located seven kilometers from the city, comes to life from time to time and releases volcanic gases.

When it is calm and with a westerly wind, they reach Severo-Kurilsk - it is impossible not to smell the smell of hydrogen sulfide and chlorine. Usually in such cases, the Sakhalin Hydrometeorological Center issues a storm warning about air pollution: it is easy to get poisoned by toxic gases. Eruptions at 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 breathing masks and water purification filters.

The site for the construction of Severo-Kurilsk was chosen without conducting 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 Hawaiian Islands 3000 km from the Kuril Islands.

Flood on Midway Island(Hawaii, USA), caused by the North Kuril tsunami.

Secret tsunami

The tsunami wave after the earthquake in Japan this spring reached the Kuril Islands. Low, one and a half meters. But in the fall of 1952, the eastern coast of Kamchatka, the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu found themselves on the first line of disaster. The North Kuril tsunami of 1952 was one of the five largest in the history of the 20th century.

The city of Severo-Kurilsk was destroyed. The Kuril and Kamchatka villages of Utesny, Levashovo, Reefovy, Kamenisty, Pribrezhny, Galkino, Okeansky, Podgorny, Major Van, Shelekhovo, Savushkino, Kozyrevsky, Babushkino, Baykovo were swept away...

In the fall of 1952, the country lived a normal life. The Soviet press, Pravda and Izvestia, did not get a single line: neither about the tsunami in the Kuril Islands, nor about the thousands of people who died.

The picture of what happened can be reconstructed from the memories of eyewitnesses and rare photographs.

The writer Arkady Strugatsky, who served as a military translator in the Kuril Islands in those years, took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the tsunami. I wrote to my brother in Leningrad:

“...I was on the island of Syumushu (or Shumshu - look for it at the southern tip of Kamchatka). What I saw, did and experienced there - I can’t write yet. I will 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 Syumushu, the ocean hits the rock walls of Syumushu. Anyone who was on Syumusyu, was on Syumusyu that night, remembers how the ocean attacked Syumusyu; How the ocean crashed with a roar onto the piers of Syumushu, and onto the pillboxes of Syumushu, and onto the roofs of Syumushu; As in the hollows of Syumushu, and in the trenches of Syumushu, the ocean raged in the bare hills of Syumushu. And the next morning, Syumusyu, there were many corpses to the walls-rocks of Syumusyu, Syumusyu, carried out by the Pacific Ocean. Black island of Syumushu, island of fear Syumushu. Anyone who lives on Syumushu 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, the work of registering residents in Severo-Kurilsk was not really organized. Seasonal workers, classified military units, the composition of which was not disclosed. According to the official report, in 1952, about 6,000 people lived in Severo-Kurilsk.

In 1951, 82-year-old South Sakhalin resident Konstantin Ponedelnikov went with his comrades to the Kuril Islands to earn extra money. They built houses, plastered walls, and helped install reinforced concrete salting vats at a fish processing plant. In those years, there were many visitors to the Far East: they arrived for recruitment and worked out the term established by the agreement.

Tells Konstantin Ponedelnikov:

– It all happened on the night of November 4-5. I was still single, well, I was young, I came from the street late, already at two or three o’clock. Then he lived in an apartment, rented a room from a fellow countryman, also from Kuibyshev. Just lay down - 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 and lit a cigarette. The ground shook noticeably underfoot. And suddenly, shooting, screams, and noise were heard from the shore. In the light of the ship's searchlights, people were running from the bay. "War!" - they shouted. At least that's what it seemed to the guy at first. Later I realized: a wave! Water!!! Self-propelled guns were coming from the sea towards the hills where the border unit was located. And together with everyone else, 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 loud noise, then a crash from the direction of the sea. Looking back, we saw a great height of water advancing from the sea onto the island... I gave the order to open fire from personal weapons and shout: “Water is coming!”, simultaneously retreating to the hills. Hearing the noise and screams, people began to run out of the apartments in what they were wearing (most of them in underwear, barefoot) and run into the hills.”

Konstantin Ponedelnikov:

“Our path to the hills lay through a ditch about three meters wide, where wooden walkways were laid for crossing. A woman with a five-year-old boy was running next to me, gasping for breath. I grabbed the child in my arms and together with him jumped over the ditch, from where the strength only came from. And the mother had already climbed over the boards.

On the hill there were army dugouts where training took place. It was there that people settled down to warm up - 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 missing relatives and release livestock from the barns. People didn’t know: a tsunami has 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 poured out again, even more powerful and larger than the first. People, thinking that everything was already over (many, grief-stricken by the loss of their loved ones, children and property), came down from the hills and began to settle in the surviving houses to warm themselves and clothe themselves. The water, encountering no resistance on its way... poured 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 carried 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 the powerful (magnitude about 9.0) earthquake, the first tsunami wave reached Severo-Kurilsk. The height of the second, most terrible, wave reached 18 meters. According to official data, 2,336 people died in Severo-Kurilsk alone.

Konstantin Ponedelnikov did not see the waves themselves. First he delivered refugees to the hill, then with several volunteers they went down and spent long hours rescuing people, pulling them out of the water, removing them from roofs. The real scale of the tragedy became clear later.

– I went down to the city... We had a watchmaker there, a good guy, legless. I look: his stroller. And he himself lies next to him, dead. The soldiers put the corpses on a chaise and take them to the hills, where they either end up in a mass grave, or how they buried them - God knows. And along the shore there were barracks and a military sapper unit. One foreman survived; he was at home, but the entire company died. A wave covered them. There was a bullpen, and there were probably people there. Maternity hospital, hospital... Everyone died.

From a letter from Arkady Strugatsky to his brother:

“The buildings were destroyed, the entire shore was littered with logs, pieces of plywood, pieces of fences, gates and doors. There were two old naval artillery towers on the pier; they were installed by the Japanese almost at the end of the Russo-Japanese War. The tsunami threw them about a hundred meters away. When dawn broke, those who managed to escape came down from the mountains - men and women in underwear, shivering from cold and horror. Most of the inhabitants either drowned or lay on the shore mixed 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, found himself on the Amderma steamship, completely filled with fish. Half of the coal hold was unloaded for the people and a tarpaulin was thrown in.

Through Korsakov they were brought 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 sent everyone back to Sakhalin. There was no talk of any material compensation; it would be good if they could at least confirm their length of service. Konstantin was lucky: his work boss remained alive and restored his work books and passports...

Fishing place

Many destroyed villages were never rebuilt. The population of the islands has decreased greatly. The port city of Severo-Kurilsk was rebuilt in a new location, higher up. Without carrying out that very volcanological examination, so as a result the city found itself in an even more dangerous place - on the path of mud flows of the Ebeko volcano, one of the most active in the Kuril Islands.

Life in the port city of Severo-Kurilsk has always been connected with fish. The work was profitable, people came, lived, left - there was some kind of movement. In the 1970-80s, only slackers at sea did not earn one and a half thousand rubles a month (an order of magnitude more than at similar work on the mainland). In the 1990s, the crab was caught and taken to Japan. But in the late 2000s, Rosrybolovstvo had to almost completely ban Kamchatka crab fishing. So that it doesn't disappear completely.

Today, compared to the late 1950s, the population has decreased by three times. Today, about 2,500 people live in Severo-Kurilsk - or, as the locals say, in Sevkur. Of these, 500 are under 18 years of age. In the maternity ward of the hospital, 30-40 citizens of the country are born annually, with “Severo-Kurilsk” listed in the “place of birth” column.

The fish processing factory provides the country with stocks of navaga, flounder and pollock. Approximately half of the workers are local. The rest are newcomers (“verbota”, recruited). They earn approximately 25 thousand a month.

It is not customary here to sell fish to fellow countrymen. There is a whole sea of ​​it, and if you want cod or, say, halibut, you need to come in the evening to the port where fishing ships unload and simply ask: “Hey, brother, wrap up the fish.”

Tourists in Paramushir are still only a dream. Visitors are accommodated in the “Fisherman's House” - a place that is only partially heated. True, the thermal power plant in Sevkur was recently modernized, and a new pier was built in the port.

One problem is the inaccessibility of Paramushir. There are more than a thousand kilometers to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and three hundred to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The helicopter flies once a week, and then only on condition that the weather is good in Petrik, and in Severo-Kurilsk, and at Cape Lopatka, which ends Kamchatka. It's good if you wait a couple of days. Or maybe three weeks...

Alexander Guber, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

 

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