A terrible tragedy that claimed the lives of thousands of people happened on November 5, 1952. On this day, about 200 km from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of 30 km there was a strong earthquake. 40 minutes after the earthquake, a huge 10-meter tsunami wave to the ground destroyed the main city of the island of Paramushir Severo-Kurilsk, which was then home to about 4,000 people.
The tragedy occurred on a cold night, when the inhabitants of the island were sleeping peacefully in their homes. At first, the townspeople were awakened by strong tremors from the earthquake. But since earthquakes on the Kuril Islands are not uncommon, few people took the danger seriously.
Since there was no special disaster alert service at that time, all residents went back to sleep after the tremors stopped. First, a wave of icy water of 8 meters came to the sleeping city, which flooded all the lowlands and destroyed the first line of the city's development.
After her came a wave, 10 to 15 meters high. This wave completely washed the city into the sea, taking away all buildings, cars, fishing boats, mixing them with tons of sand and gravel. The number of victims could have been much lower if the tsunami had come during the day.
But at night there was a real panic. Naked people ran out of their crumbling houses in only underwear and ran to the hills. Even those who managed to escape the wave that carried everything into the ocean were still unlucky - most people died from hypothermia after "swimming" in ice water.
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In the city itself, only the entrance stone gates of the stadium and a monument to the hero-pilot Talalikhin survived. In addition to Severo-Kurilsk, several other fishing villages with a total population of about 10,000 were washed into the ocean.
The total number of victims is still unknown. The fact is that in addition to the civilian population, there were several military garrisons on the Kuril Islands, which were also completely destroyed.
The military did not dare to inform the whole world that the eastern borders of the country remained practically defenseless. Therefore, the tragedy in the Kuril Islands was immediately classified. In the press and on television, only a "dry" report was announced about the earthquake in the Kuril region.
After several years of painstaking work of local historians, it was found that there were more than 8,000 victims of the tsunami. The destroyed settlements and garrisons decided not to rebuild. The city of Severo-Kurilsk was rebuilt in a new place 20 meters above sea level.
It was after this tragedy in the Kuril Islands in the USSR that a tsunami tracking and warning service was created, which is still functioning.