A little Soviet apocalypse: how an entire city disappeared from the map in two hours

“The Soviet people celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution with great enthusiasm and enthusiasm,” was the headline of Kamchatskaya Pravda on November 11, 1952. Not a single media reported that thousands many people had died a few days earlier, and only remnants of Severo-Kurilsk remained.

Early in the morning of November 5, 1952, the residents of Severo-Kurilsk woke up from strong tremors. Houses vibrated, chandeliers swayed, vases and books fell from shelves to the floor. Frightened people jumped down the street, grabbing the first thing that came to hand.

The oscillations last half an hour. The city was quite battered, but the destruction was not catastrophic and no one was injured. Five to 20 cm wide cracks remained in the ground, but the buildings survived. The source of the problems was the Pacific Ocean – this is where the epicenter of the earthquake was.

The tremors were replaced by calm weather, but soon a loud noise was heard from the sea. Police officers, whose service was located 150 meters from the water, saw a rampart advancing on the island. The chief ordered everyone to retreat to the hills, firing personal weapons and shouting, “The water is coming!”

Not everyone could make out the words. People heard that they were announcing something else: “There is war!” Panicked, they rush in all directions. Again, no one was injured: the wave turned out to be a meter long, and the well only destroyed houses on the shore. After 15 minutes, the water receded and residents began to return to collect surviving items. That’s what ruined them.

After 40 minutes, a second 10-meter-high tsunami hit Severo-Kurilsk. The first wave had already destroyed most of the barriers, and now the wave was rushing at breakneck speed deep into the island. Houses were thrown like matchboxes and swept out to sea, hundreds of people died. The third wave finally leveled the city.

Only a small part of Severo-Kurilsk survived – the one that was located on a high terrace above sea level. The radio station continued to work and continuously launched SOS, but too stupidly: in Petropavlovsk they didn’t really understand what had happened. The people were saved by the townspeople who remained in the ranks.

The head of the Kamchatka volcanological station of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Boris Piip, later wrote in his diary: two sailors spent nearly 12 hours in the water before being pulled out. One, landing, immediately fell dead, the second managed to survive.

Soon an evacuation is announced, but it is classified as “secret”. The newspaper “Pravda” did not write a word about what happened, “Kamchatskaya Pravda” came out only on November 11. For the first time, the disaster was only openly mentioned in the 2000s. The number of people who died is still unknown: some experts estimate that there were around a thousand victims, others are sure – at least eight.

Severo-Kurilsk was rebuilt, but many people decided not to return to the site of the tragedy. Perhaps for the better – the new city was built on the path of the mudslides, which were formed during the eruptions of the Ebeko volcano. And in 1956, a seismic and meteorological service appeared in the USSR, which was supposed to, among other things, warn of a tsunami – after the destruction of the city overnight, the Soviet authorities realized that they could not get away with it. pass.

Photo: Legion Media, Shutterstock