Russia is the largest country in the world, which, due to the diversity of geographical, geological, climatic conditions, is exposed to various natural phenomena.
Russia is a territory of earthquakes
The total number includes destructive earthquakes, representing tremors in the earth's crust due to unstable tectonic processes. Approximately 40% of the country is in the seismic risk zone (places with a frequency of earthquakes - about once every 500 years). According to scientists, Petropavlovsk in Kamchatka is considered the most dangerous city for life.
Altai, the North Caucasus, Baikal with Transbaikalia, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Sayan Ridge and Sakhalin Island.
Sakhalin: 1995 earthquake
It was on Sakhalin that an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 killed 2040 people in 1995. Over the past 100 years, it has been the mostdestructive, ruthlessly erasing the city of Neftegorsk from the face of the Earth. Founded in 1964, it was conceived as a settlement for oil workers. It was located on the border of two tectonic plates in a seismically inactive zone (at least, it was thought so until 1995).
Shocks of different power (from 5 to 7 points) on the night of May 27-28 were felt throughout the region, but Neftegorsk got the most, because the epicenter of the earthquake was located 25-30 kilometers from it. Fluctuations with a force of 7.6 on the Richter scale within a minute wiped out Neftegorsk, which had been under construction for 30 years, from the face of the Earth. Later, after finding out the causes of the tragedy, it was found that the houses were built using the cheapest technology and the maximum that they could survive was a 6-magnitude earthquake. The colossal savings on human lives loudly reminded of itself on this tragic day.
The city that was gone
17 five-storey houses, medical institutions, shops, a school, kindergartens, broadcasting and communication facilities, the municipality, as well as the Palace of Culture, where a disco was held on the occasion of the end of the school year, were destroyed. Of the 26 graduates, only 9 survived; out of 3197 residents of the city - 1140 people.
The 1995 Sakhalin earthquake buried two-thirds of the population under rubble, including medical workers. Therefore, there was simply no one to provide first aid.
An oil pipeline and several oil rigs were damaged, as a resultwhich spread a significant amount of oil on the earth's surface. The environment has been severely damaged without being reported in the media.
Luckier is the city of Okha, located 60 kilometers to the north, with a population of 45,000 people. On that terrible night, minor violations were observed in it, no human casu alties were recorded.
Rescue operations in Neftegorsk
In the morning, after the earthquake occurred on Sakhalin, there was heavy fog on the island, which prevented rescue teams from reaching the scene of the tragedy. The nearest airport, where planes could land, was 65 kilometers, which, combined with bad roads, took a lot of time. Therefore, the lost time did not play in favor of the victims, few of them managed to be saved.
In total, 1,500 people, 25 aircraft, 24 helicopters, 66 vehicles took part in the rescue operation. On the 4th day, the number of vehicles involved increased to 267 units. It was on those fateful days when an earthquake occurred on Sakhalin that 5 minutes of silence was first applied, when once an hour all equipment fell silent, work stopped and conversations stopped in order to hear people under the rubble.
The city that died in an instant, it was decided not to restore. A memorial and a chapel were built in its place. A cemetery with buried residents is nearby.
After the tragedy that occurred in 1995 on Sakhalin, the earthquake swept a number of territories, however, with less destruction. Altai Mountains suffered in 2003, Kamchatka in 2006, and Chechnya in 2008.
Sakhalin: real-time seismic activity map
Today everything has changed. Now every Internet user of Sakhalin Island can observe the seismic situation in the region. The map, developed by scientists specifically for the peculiarities of this territory, allows real-time monitoring of all fluctuations in the earth's crust. New unique equipment is located at the Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics, and everyone has the opportunity to track the course of the earthquake and its parameters: epicenter coordinates, depth and amplitude. That is, it became possible to give the most correct assessment of the seismic event that occurred. Previously, scientists recorded tremors exclusively on paper; now 15 seismic sensors transmit information about the earth's crustal vibrations to the data center.
