Kurile Islands. OOO "Kurily Tour"

The mountains and volcanoes of Paramushir Island look picturesque from space, but the view from the ground and from the sea is no less impressive. Paramushir is the most mountainous and most "volcanic" of the large Kuril Islands. Of the 23 Paramushir volcanoes, 18 have turned into calm mountain peaks, but five still cannot calm down and erupt regularly. The best volcanic landscapes are in the south of the island: numerous peaks either nest in groups, or stretch out in lines of short ridges with jagged ridges, or rise in majestic single cones ...

The name of the island was given by the Ainu - in translation from their language "Paramushir" means "wide island". A purely subjective and terrestrial perception: Paramushir from space looks like an elongated sausage about 120 km long and only about 30 km wide. But whoever came first - he called.

Previously, there were more people and settlements on Paramushir. There is enough fresh water for both locals and visitors. You can live. The name of the island also has a second translation from Ainu: "crowded island". Ainu, Russians, Japanese, after 1945 - Russians again...

After Iturup, Paramushir is the second largest of all the islands of the Kuril chain (area 2053 sq. km), but in relation to the area - the most sparsely populated. The population of Paramushir today does not exceed 3,000 people, and almost all of them are residents of a single city, Severo-Kurilsk.

Severo-Kurilsk

The city of Severo-Kurilsk is the only permanently inhabited settlement on the vast island of Paramushir. The area of the city is only 6 sq. km, the population does not reach 2500 inhabitants. All city streets can be counted on one hand, and the life of the city is concentrated on one (main) street - Sakhalinskaya, where everything that the locals and a few visitors need is located: the administration, the only museum, the only hospital (they say it’s not bad), the only hotel (not too heated), the only restaurant.

The “only” in Severo-Kurilsk is the “only” on the whole island. Here are the only heliport and sea pier on Paramushir (by the way, recently renovated). So Severo-Kurilsk is not just a small town, but the main "gateway" to Paramushir and quite a large port on the way from Vladivostok and Korsakov to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Severo-Kurilsk is economically and historically connected with the extraction of fish and seafood - navaga, flounder and pollock, crabs and squid. Here they process such a delicacy as scallop. In Severo-Kurilsk there is a fishing port (the base of the seiner fleet) and 4 fish processing enterprises. There are a lot of fish here, so in the evening you can come to the port where the fishing boats are unloaded and just ask to “wrap the fish”.

There are no special opportunities for recreation in Severo-Kurilsk, but mineral springs are located near the city, and around - 2000 square meters. km of untouched nature of Paramushir, with its mountains and volcanoes, bears and shrews.

The port city of Severo-Kurilsk is located on the Pacific "storm route", as well as in a zone of increased seismic and volcanic danger.

In Severo-Kurilsk, the expression "to live like on a volcano" can be used without quotes. The Ebeko volcano, located seven kilometers from the city, from time to time comes to life and releases volcanic gases. In calm weather and with a westerly wind, they reach Severo-Kurilsk - it is impossible not to feel the smell of hydrogen sulfide and chlorine. Usually in such cases, the Sakhalin Hydrometeorological Center transmits a storm warning about air pollution: it is easy to get poisoned by toxic gases. Eruptions in Paramushir in 1859 and 1934 caused mass poisoning of people and the death of domestic animals. Therefore, in such cases, volcanologists urge city residents to use masks to protect their breath and filters for water purification.

The site for the construction of Severo-Kurilsk was chosen without a volcanological examination. Then, in the 1950s, the main thing was to build a city no lower than 30 meters above sea level. After the tragedy of 1952, water seemed worse than fire.

Secret tsunami

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

The tsunami, which was later named after the destroyed city - the "tsunami in Severo-Kurilsk" - was caused by an earthquake in the Pacific Ocean, 130 km from the coast of Kamchatka. An hour after a powerful (magnitude about 9 points) earthquake, the first tsunami wave reached Severo-Kurilsk. The height of the second, the most terrible, wave reached 18 meters.

The tsunami came at night, after strong, but not too frightening aftershocks (we got used to seismic activity). The earthquake subsided, the houses stood, the light came on. And in the Pacific Ocean, 200 km from the coast, a wave was born and went to the shores of the Kuril Islands.
After 40 minutes, the wave entered the bay and licked the city with thousands of people, as if it never existed. On November 5, 1952, nature seemed to rebel... Three huge waves hit Paramushir in a matter of minutes, destroying both the port of Severo-Kurilsk and several fishing villages. A third, and according to unofficial data, half of the then population of the island, about 3,000 people, died.

The Severo-Kurilsk Museum has data on civilian casualties, calculated by various researchers: adults - 6,060; children under 16 - 1,742; total - 7,802 people.
The military, I think, died no less. The official documentation of 1952 calls them "Urbanovich's people", "Gribakin's people", after the names of their commanders; there is no general number.
The total number of victims is estimated to be 13-17 thousand people.
There are oral data about 50 thousand; it is this figure that still walks in legends in Kamchatka and the Kuriles.

The city of Severo-Kurilsk was destroyed. The Kuril and Kamchatka settlements of Utyosny, Levashovo, Reef, Rocky, Coastal, Galkino, Okeansky, Podgorny, Major Van, Shelekhovo, Savushkino, Kozyrevsky, Babushkino, Baikovo have been swept away ... The entire coastline is neatly listed in the martyrology:
“.. Utesny village, 7 km from Severo-Kurilsk. Excluded from the credentials as a settlement by the decision of the regional executive committee
.. Levashovo fishery, at the exit from the Second Kuril Strait. Excluded from the credentials as a settlement by the decision of the regional executive committee
..settlement Rifovoe, the center of the village council of the same name in Rifovaya Bay. Excluded from credentials…”
and so 11 places where people lived.

In the autumn of 1952, the country lived an ordinary life. The Soviet press, Pravda and Izvestia, did not get a single line: neither about the tsunami in the Kuriles, nor about the thousands of dead people.

The picture of what happened can be restored from the memories of eyewitnesses, rare photographs and 25 seconds black and white chronicle- miraculously removed and miraculously preserved.

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

The city was rebuilt in a new place, and the villages devastated by the elements and abandoned by people remained ghosts - on the maps, where they still exist marked “uninhabited”, and in reality - on the east coast, their half-decayed skeletons gloomily appear through the dense fogs of Paramushir ...

Such is the "crowded island". But here is expanse for animals - on an island rich in water and fish, hundreds of brown bears, many almost fearless foxes and the mysterious animal "Paramushir shrew" freely settled.

History, legends and facts

The largest Ainu settlement on Paramushir was once located on the site of Severo-Kurilsk, and the island itself was part of the Russian Empire. However, in 1875, Russia ceded to Japan all 18 Kuril Islands (including, of course, Paramushir) in exchange for full ownership of Sakhalin (the so-called "St. Petersburg Treaty").

The Japanese began active development of the island, and on the site of the Ainu settlement they founded the city of Kashibawara, which became the main port city on Paramushir. In addition to fishing, the islands were of key military importance for the Japanese - during the 20th century, Japan and Russia clashed 5 times in armed conflicts in various territories.

On Paramushir and on the neighboring island of Shumshu, the Japanese military garrison numbered 23 thousand people, a powerful anti-landing defense was created (the ruins of Japanese fortifications are still visible in the vicinity of Severo-Kurilsk). There were four airfields on Paramushir, one of them was in Kashiwabara (the other three were Kurabu, Suribatsi, Kakumabetsu).

On August 18, 1945, Soviet landing units landed on Paramushir, the fighting continued for five days. On August 23, at 15:30, the Red Army troops occupied Kasivabara.

The city retained its Japanese name until 1946, when it was renamed Severo-Kurilsk.

Severo-Kurilsk

The port city of Severo-Kurilsk is located on the Pacific "storm route", as well as in a zone of increased seismic and volcanic danger.

Secret tsunami

The picture of what happened can be restored from the memories of eyewitnesses, rare photographs and 25 seconds black and white chronicle- miraculously removed and miraculously preserved.

History, legends and facts

On August 18, 1945, Soviet landing units landed on Paramushir, the fighting continued for five days. On August 23, at 15:30, the Red Army troops occupied Kasivabara.

The city retained its Japanese name until 1946, when it was renamed Severo-Kurilsk.

The place is harsh. Extreme climatic conditions, difficult communications with the mainland, a double island margin for imported goods (and almost everything is imported), the constant threat of natural disasters in the form of eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis.

(you) Only a truly strong person in every sense, who is crazy about this difficult region, can live here. And there really is something to be crazy about here.

In the Kuriles, on a territory slightly smaller than Israel, Slovenia, about half of Belgium, lives only ~ 20 thousand. people, of which a little more than half - in three settlements - Severo-Kurilsk, Kurilsk and ... yeah, Yuzhno-Kurilsk. It is curious that the first two have the official status of a city, despite the fact that in terms of total population they are inferior to the third, which is an urban-type settlement. There are also a number of villages and seasonal fishing villages that come alive in the summer and mothballed in the winter.

How does it live in the Kuriles?

I don't know, I didn't live. I suspect it's not easy. Especially from the point of view of a resident of Moscow. We spied this life only out of the corner of our eye and in the midst of the local summer. And here's what to tell.

On the way from north to south along the Kuril ridge, stop number one is Severo-Kurilsk, Paramushir Island. The journey takes one night by boat from Petrovavlovsk-Kamchatsky. I immediately remembered the Moscow-Helsinki trains: in the evening I sat down, slept (or didn’t sleep, but had a great time), in the morning on the spot (in the late 90s I had to travel). There is no regular air service - due to the lack of an airport. Whether helicopters from Kamchatka fly here - I don’t know, I doubt it - it will be a little expensive, very expensive. ABOUT! However, they fly - according to Wikipedia, there is a heliport in the city!

Photo by L.K.

To come to Severo-Kurilsk just like that because of the “wanted” will not work. However, as in other Kuril settlements. The Kuriles are a border zone, and therefore, in order to join their beauties, you need to obtain permission in advance from the relevant federal service, and upon arrival, the first thing to do is to check in.

It was with this procedure that our acquaintance with the city and the Kuril people began. At the appointed place X on the Paramushir volcanic beach, we were met by a stern border guard. He slowly checked the list of all the arrivals, carefully comparing photos and names. Attempts of some tourists to joke were immediately stopped by the phrase “I ask without sarcasm” and looked in such a way that it became immediately clear that he was not joking about the inadmissibility of jokes :)

The lists, passports and faces of their owners matched, the formalities were quickly closed, we were put on a bus and taken to the city.

The city has a tragic history. It was founded right on the coast from the ocean part of the island. In 1952 the city was washed away by a tsunami, killing half the population. During the Soviet Union, this information was classified and was first published only in the early 90s. After the tsunami, Severo-Kurilsk was rebuilt in a safer place away from the coast, but the memory of this tragic event remained.

The old city, destroyed by the tsunami, is now a gloomy sight - the skeletons of houses, sunken ships, washed ashore by the tsunami, overgrown swampy streets, rusty mechanisms and other traces of a long-standing catastrophe. Just abandoned forever to rust and rot. A depressing impression, especially at dusk, under a fine cold rain that watered us for almost the whole day.

The "new" city seems to be quite a habitable place. Life, of course, is not in full swing here - but for some reason I expected a much worse sight. Surprisingly - shops, a beauty salon, playgrounds, a kindergarten and a school, monuments, a church, a freshly renovated clinic and even one hotel for a not very demanding taste. Well, of course, everything is far from being as glamorous and fluffy as the inhabitant of the European part of the country is used to, but almost everything is there.

The housing stock is partially newly renovated, while the other part makes a depressing impression, especially in nasty weather, which seems to be here all the time ... Somehow it’s not even very clear how one can survive the harsh Kuril winter in such barracks. Well, somehow they are worried!

And the winters here are not only cold, but also windy and snowy. Sometimes for local residents, the morning begins with a useful and inevitable exercise - to clear the entrance to the house from snow from within. Here is a photo from the personal archive of L.K. (who took us around the island and Ebeko volcano all day long):

The roads here are made of reinforced concrete (a little) or rolled on a primer (a lot). Therefore, the fleet is appropriate - mostly elderly right-handed SUVs from the southern neighbor on the rubber of the highest cross-country ability, and ATVs.

There is also a hydroelectric power station! Aha! They say that the idea to use a small waterfall on the outskirts of the city came to the Japanese and with them there was some kind of unit. The hydroelectric power station has recently been updated, a concrete road has been laid, judging by the noise - it works!

Paramushir is a highly volcanic island and it was a sin not to use it. It is meant to send thermal water from volcanisms to the needs of public utilities. In Soviet times, there were several attempts to drill wells, but, alas, nothing came of it and therefore they are still heated mainly with coal.

The volcanic present of Paramushir does not have a very good effect on the environment. Locals say that due to the abundant sulfuric fumes and ash, the water and air in the city ... are far from environmental standards. I didn’t notice anything like that, because the constant rain and wind brought much more inconvenience.

But the people here... well, the others just don't survive here. It is understandable, without mutual assistance in such parts you will not live long. Very different fates, often incredible fate, but there is always a feeling that they love this region, they are insanely proud to live here and are happy to show it to gentle Moscow office plankton :)

How the population lives here - three main occupations. It's fish, fish and more fish. There is also a customs office and a border outpost - everything is like on the rest of the inhabited islands of the Kuril ridge.

Tourism is practically absent here, judging by the fact that no other tourists were observed on the huge Ebeko volcano except us. The climate is harsh, the rain is cold, the wind blows away - so they rolled down in a state of slight awesomeness and a slight chill. There was practically no time left to explore the city - so Severo-Kurilsk is somehow a blurry impression. Next time we should stay at the "Fisherman's House" for a couple of days, since besides Ebeko there is still something to see.

For example, Shumshu Island - as they say, a unique place, very beautiful (in sunny weather), the only flat island of all the Kuriles.

Photo by L.K.

HGIOL

General information

Administratively, the island is part of the North Kuril urban district of the Sakhalin Oblast of Russia. It is surrounded by the islands of Shumshu, Atlasov, Antsiferov, Makanrushi and Onekotan.

Population

In the north of Paramushir is the city of Severo-Kurilsk (2400 inhabitants in 2011) - the administrative center of the region and the only residential settlement of the island at the beginning of the 21st century.

Non-residential settlements - Podgorny and Shelikhovo. The settlements that existed on the island Antsiferova, Vasilyevo, Galkino, Kamenisty, Kitovy, Mayorovo, Okeansky, Coastal, according to the 2002 census, also do not have a permanent population.

On the Vasiliev Peninsula there is an air defense company, a frontier post, a naval reconnaissance company and a lighthouse (on Khmyr rock).

Climate

At the extreme southern tip of Paramushir, since the island became part of the USSR, the meteorological station "Cape Vasiliev" has been operating. According to her data, it was in the south of Paramushir that the wind speed record for the entire archipelago was recorded, reaching 230 km / h.

The growing season is short. The snow cover is strong. The extremely harsh wind regime, as well as the low Cyrus coefficient (12.6 ° C), is the reason for the lack of forests here. In the river valleys, fragmentary light forests are formed only by oud willow. When moving from north to south, the average annual temperature rises from 2.8 to 3.8 °C. The warmest place on the island is the valleys of the southern rivers (Tukharka and Shimoyur), where the snow melts first.

Nature and geography of the island

Paramushir is one of the northernmost islands of the Kuril chain. Being the second largest island of the Kuril Islands (2053 km² in area), Paramushir Island stretches for more than 100 kilometers from the northeast to the southwest. The average width of the island is about 19-22 kilometers. From the northwest it is washed by the Sea of Okhotsk, from the southeast by the Pacific Ocean. From the side of the sea, the island is higher and steeper, less indented by bays, the coastal strip is narrow. On the ocean side, on the contrary, the coast is flatter and more difficult in relief, with low-lying coastal areas, bays, steep capes and many rocky reefs protruding 2-3 kilometers into the ocean.

Paramushir Island is the most mountainous of the large islands of the Kuril chain. In the north and south of the island, the mountain range is higher, and in the middle part it is somewhat lowered, forming, as it were, a gentle saddle with many peaks. In the north of the island, the main highest points are Mount Nasedkina (up to 1152 meters) and Mount Windy (up to 1088 meters). The spurs of Mount Vetrenaya in the north descend to the sea and form Cape Pathfinder - the northernmost point of the island. Between these peaks, in the chain of the Vernadsky ridge, 6-7 kilometers from the city of Severo-Kurilsk, there is an active volcano Ebeko (up to 1156 meters). The highest point of this ridge, Mount Vernadsky itself (up to 1183 meters).

At the southern tip of the island, in the same direction from north to south, there is another, larger Karpinsky ridge. It is formed by such main peaks as the Chikurachki volcano - the highest point of the island (up to 1817 meters), Mount Lomonosov (up to 1681 meters), Mount Arkhangelsky (up to 1463 meters), Mount Topor (up to 1199 meters), Karpinsky volcano (up to 1345 meters ), Mount Barkova (up to 1314 meters).

The south of the island ends with Cape Kapustny and the tip of the Vasilyev Peninsula, Cape Gilyak (another name for Yumen is the southernmost point of the island), between which there is Vasilyev Bay. To the west of the Karpinsky Ridge, protruding into the sea as the Fussa Peninsula, there is a large (up to 1772 meters) Fussa Volcano standing apart, with its spurs forming the westernmost point of the island, Cape Neproydenny. In total, there are 23 volcanoes on Paramushir, 5 of which (Ebeko, Chikurachki, Tatarinov, Fussa and Karpinsky) are active.

The easternmost point of the island is Cape Ozerny, located in a lowland area full of water bodies.

Paramushir is separated by the Alaid Strait from Atlasov Island, located 20 kilometers northwest; the Second Kuril Strait - from Shumshu Island, located 2 kilometers northeast; by the Luzhin Strait (Third Kuril) - from Antsiferov Island, located 15 kilometers to the west; The fourth Kuril Strait - from the islands of Onekotan located southwest, 54 kilometers, Makanrushi, 60 kilometers.

Near the island there are also several small islands, rocks and reefs: Chaikin Islands, Kit Island, Chick Island, Bazarny Island, Barrier Island, Smoke Island, Torchki Rock, Uno Rock, Dangerous Rock, Sly Rock, Khmyr Rocks, Foamy Rocks and others.

A group of small islands Birds, otherwise Brothers (Bazarny Island, Dve Gagary Islands, Baklany Island), are located in the northeast, opposite Cape Levashov and are separated from Paramushir by a strait, also named after the navigator Mikhail Dmitrievich Levashov. All three of these islets are part of a volcanic caldera protruding from under the water. Their old Japanese names: more southern high (up to 47 meters) - Togari (Ganimushir), more northern and lower - Kotani (Kotanimushir) and Ciri (Tsirimushir). The islets got their current names thanks to the numerous bird colonies and nesting sites of guillemots, puffins, fulmars, gulls and cormorants.

Volcanoes of Paramushir Island

There are several volcanoes on the island, of which 5 are active or potentially active.

Chikurachki: 1816 m, 50°19′ N. sh. 155°28′ E d. HGIOL- the highest peak of the island
Fussa: 1772 m 50°16′ N. sh. 155°15′ E d. HGIOL
Tatarinov: 1530 m, 50°18′ N. sh. 155°27′ E d. HGIOL
Karpinsky: 1345 m, 50°08′ N. sh. 155°22′ E d. HGIOL
Ebeko: 1156 m 50°41′ s. sh. 156°01′ E d. HGIOL

Hydrography

Flora and fauna

Due to the absence of forests and mountain tundra, the species diversity of the flora of the island is less than in southern Kamchatka, but more significant than on neighboring smaller islands. By 2012, at least 542 species of higher vascular plants have been identified on the island. For comparison, on Onekotan - only 316. On the island, cedar elfin and shrub alder, locust, lingonberry, princess, blueberry, crowberry are common. In general, the flora is characterized as subalpine meadow. A lot of mushrooms. Pink salmon, sockeye salmon and coho salmon spawn in the island's largest river, the Tukharka (about 20 km long).

More than 100 brown bears live on the island, there are fire fox, white hare, ermine, on the coast there are sea otters, Japanese right whale. The endemic of Paramushir is the Paramushir shrew. A brown bear lives on Paramushir, and a bear is also found on Shumshu, although during a long stay on the island of a military base, and also due to its relatively small size, the bears on Shumshu were mostly knocked out. Since Shumshu is a connecting island between Paramushir and Kamchatka, bear populations are rapidly recovering here.

Story

As part of Japan

In 1884, the Ainu of Paramushir were resettled by the Japanese authorities in Shikotan.

In 1898, on the site of the largest Ainu village, the Japanese founded the city of Kashiwabara, which turned into the main port and fishing base of the island.

From 1943 until the very end of the war, all military installations of the island became the targets of strikes by the US Navy and Air Force based in the Aleutian Islands.

As part of the USSR / RSFSR - Russia

In 1946, the city of Kashiwabara received a Russian name - Severo-Kurilsk. On the basis of the infrastructure of Suribachi, the Okeansky settlement arose (now Kolokoltsev Bay and Okeansky Cape). On the basis of Musashi - Shkilevo (now Cape Vasiliev). Kakumabetsu was named Shelekhovo. And Kitanodai - Reef (Reef Bay, Reef Cape).

On November 5, 1952, the settlements of the island were actually destroyed by the largest natural disaster (Tsunami in Severo-Kurilsk of 1952).

Many of the now abandoned settlements, for example, the Okeansky settlement, were depopulated precisely after the devastating tsunami of 1952.

The large number of casualties is explained by the fact that the new population of the island from the citizens of the USSR, which replaced the repatriated Japanese, for the most part did not know how to behave under the threat of a tsunami. It was after the tsunami of 1952 that the Tsunami Warning System began to be created in the USSR, and 1955 is considered its year of birth.

In the 1950s, the main city of the island - Severo-Kurilsk - was rebuilt on a new, higher site.

Since 1991, it has been part of Russia, as the successor country of the USSR. By the end of the 20th century, Severo-Kurilsk remained the only settlement on the island.

Notes

Akulov A.Yu. History of the Ainu language: first approximation // Bulletin of St. Petersburg University. Series 9. Philology. Oriental studies. Journalism. - 2007. - Issue. 2-i. -