Vorkuta

Vorkuta (Russian: Воркута́; Komi: Вӧркута, Vörkuta; Nenets for "the abundance of bears", "bear corner")[9] is a coal-mining town in the Komi Republic, Russia, situated just north of the Arctic Circle in the Pechora coal basin at the river Vorkuta. Population: 70,548 (2010 Census);[4] 84,917 (2002 Census);[10] 115,646 (1989 Census).[11]

For other uses, see Vorkuta (disambiguation).
Vorkuta

Воркута
Town[1]
Other transcription(s)
 • KomiВӧркута
Central Vorkuta
Flag
Coat of arms
Location of Vorkuta
Vorkuta
Location of Vorkuta
Vorkuta
Vorkuta (Komi Republic)
Coordinates: 67°30′N 64°02′E
CountryRussia
Federal subjectKomi Republic[1]
FoundedJanuary 4, 1936[2]
Town status sinceNovember 26, 1943[2]
Government
 • Administration Manager[3]Igor Gurlev[3]
Area
 • Total29.8 km2 (11.5 sq mi)
Elevation
180 m (590 ft)
Population
 • Total70,548
 • Estimate 
(2018)[5]
56,088 (-20.5%)
 • Rank224th in 2010
 • Density2,400/km2 (6,100/sq mi)
 • Subordinated totown of republic significance of Vorkuta[1]
 • Capital oftown of republic significance of Vorkuta[1]
 • Urban okrugVorkuta Urban Okrug[6]
 • Capital ofVorkuta Urban Okrug[6]
Time zoneUTC+3 (MSK [7])
Postal code(s)[8]
169900
Dialing code(s)+7 82151
OKTMO ID87710000001
Twin townsAntananarivo, Vologda
Websitexn--80adypkng.xn--p1ai/english/

Vorkuta is the fourth largest city north of the Arctic Circle and the easternmost town in Europe. It is also the coldest city in all of Europe, boasting a record cold temperature of -52 degrees C (-61 degrees F).

History

Industrial coal fields by the river Vorkuta were discovered in 1930 by geologist Georgy Chernov. Georgy was the son of another geologist, Alexander Chernov, who promoted the development of the Pechora coal basin, which included the Vorkuta fields.[12][13] With this discovery the coal mining industry started in the Komi ASSR. At the time only the southern parts of the field were included in the Komi ASSR. The northern part, including Vorkuta, belonged to the Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Arkhangelsk Oblast. In 1931 a geologist settlement was established by the coal field, with most of the workers being inmates of the Ukhta-Pechora Camp of GULAG (Ухтпечлаг, Ukhtpechlag).[12][14]

Forced labour camp
Main article: Vorkutlag

The origins of the town of Vorkuta are associated with Vorkutlag, one of the most notorious forced labour camps of the Gulag, which was established in 1932 with the start of mining. It was the largest of the Gulag camps in European Russia and served as the administrative centre for a large number of smaller camps and subcamps, among them Kotlas, Pechora, and Izhma (modern Sosnogorsk). The Vorkuta uprising, a major rebellion by the camp inmates, occurred in 1953.

In 1941, Vorkuta and the labour camp system based around it were connected to the rest of the world by a prisoner-built rail line linking Konosha, Kotlas, and the camps of Inta. Town status was granted to Vorkuta on November 26, 1943.[12]

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with eight urban-type settlements (Komsomolsky, Mulda, Oktyabrsky, Promyshlenny, Severny, Vorgashor, Yeletsky, and Zapolyarny) and seven rural localities, incorporated as the town of republic significance of Vorkuta—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.[1] As a municipal division, the town of republic significance of Vorkuta is incorporated as Vorkuta Urban Okrug.[6]

Economy

By the early 21st century many mines had closed as problems with the high costs of operation plagued the mine operators. At one time during the late 1980s and 1990s there were labor actions in the area by miners who had not been paid for a year.[15][16]

Climate
Mining College in Vorkuta

Vorkuta has a subarctic climate with short cool summers and very cold and snowy winters. The average February temperature is about −20 °C (−4 °F), and in July it is about +13 °C (55 °F).

The polar day in Vorkuta lasts from 30 May to 14 July, the polar night lasts from 17 December to 27 December.

Climate data for Vorkuta
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 1.1
(34.0)		 1.2
(34.2)		 5.3
(41.5)		 12.0
(53.6)		 26.5
(79.7)		 31.0
(87.8)		 33.8
(92.8)		 30.0
(86.0)		 24.2
(75.6)		 15.6
(60.1)		 4.8
(40.6)		 3.5
(38.3)		 33.8
(92.8)
Average high °C (°F) −15.6
(3.9)		 −16.1
(3.0)		 −9.7
(14.5)		 −5.5
(22.1)		 1.7
(35.1)		 12.6
(54.7)		 18.6
(65.5)		 14.2
(57.6)		 7.9
(46.2)		 −0.8
(30.6)		 −9.9
(14.2)		 −13.9
(7.0)		 −1.4
(29.5)
Daily mean °C (°F) −19.5
(−3.1)		 −20.0
(−4.0)		 −13.9
(7.0)		 −10.0
(14.0)		 −1.9
(28.6)		 7.6
(45.7)		 13.2
(55.8)		 9.7
(49.5)		 4.3
(39.7)		 −3.4
(25.9)		 −13.3
(8.1)		 −17.6
(0.3)		 −5.4
(22.3)
Average low °C (°F) −23.5
(−10.3)		 −23.9
(−11.0)		 −18.1
(−0.6)		 −14.3
(6.3)		 −5.2
(22.6)		 3.3
(37.9)		 8.2
(46.8)		 5.8
(42.4)		 1.2
(34.2)		 −6.1
(21.0)		 −16.8
(1.8)		 −21.6
(−6.9)		 −9.3
(15.3)
Record low °C (°F) −48.0
(−54.4)		 −49.4
(−56.9)		 −43.1
(−45.6)		 −38.5
(−37.3)		 −25.3
(−13.5)		 −8.4
(16.9)		 −1.0
(30.2)		 −4.0
(24.8)		 −10.5
(13.1)		 −29.0
(−20.2)		 −45.1
(−49.2)		 −52.0
(−61.6)		 −52.0
(−61.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 36
(1.4)		 34
(1.3)		 33
(1.3)		 27
(1.1)		 35
(1.4)		 52
(2.0)		 55
(2.2)		 63
(2.5)		 57
(2.2)		 57
(2.2)		 40
(1.6)		 42
(1.7)		 531
(20.9)
Average snowfall cm (inches) 47
(19)		 66
(26)		 81
(32)		 84
(33)		 53
(21)		 4
(1.6)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 6
(2.4)		 17
(6.7)		 30
(12)		 388
(153.7)
Average rainy days 1 0 1 3 9 16 19 22 19 10 2 1 103
Average snowy days 25 21 23 19 16 4 0 0 4 18 24 26 180
Average relative humidity (%) 81 80 81 79 79 72 74 82 85 88 84 82 81
Source: Pogoda.ru.net[17]

Vorkuta and the crumbling permafrost

"Vorkuta lies on the edge of Russia's permafrost boundary, and some scientists predict that continued warming could advance that border hundreds of miles northward, weakening the earth beneath the vast infrastructure built during the days of the Soviet Union's industrialization of the Arctic." [18]

Vorkuta in 2012

Notable people

Miscellaneous

The town is served by Vorkuta Airport. During the Cold War, an Arctic Control Group forward staging base for strategic bombers was located at Vorkuta Sovetsky.[19]

One of the largest coal mine disasters in Russia occurred at Vorkuta coal mine on 28 February 2016, when leaking methane gas ignited and killed 32 people, including 26 trapped miners who had been stranded by a similar explosion 3 days prior that had killed four miners.[20]

The Vorkutlag was the location of the mission "Vorkuta" in Call of Duty: Black Ops in which main character Alex Mason escaped the camp with the assistance of Viktor Reznov.

Vorkuta has a location on the Russia map of Unturned named after it, a railway car storage named Vorkuta Junction.

Vorkuta, and the Prison are the setting of Heather Morris' historical fiction Novel Cilka's Journey.

References

Notes
  1. Law #16-RZ
  2. Информационный портал администрации Воркуты - История Воркуты 1930-1945 годы (in Russian). Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
  3. Глава городского округа (in Russian). May 2013. Retrieved May 23, 2013.
  4. Russian Federal State Statistics Service (2011). "Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1" [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года [2010 All-Russia Population Census] (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service.
  5. "26. Численность постоянного населения Российской Федерации по муниципальным образованиям на 1 января 2018 года". Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  6. Law #11-RZ
  7. "Об исчислении времени". Официальный интернет-портал правовой информации (in Russian). June 3, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
  8. Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (in Russian)
  9. "About city". Retrieved February 11, 2016.
  10. Russian Federal State Statistics Service (May 21, 2004). "Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек" [Population of Russia, Its Federal Districts, Federal Subjects, Districts, Urban Localities, Rural Localities—Administrative Centers, and Rural Localities with Population of Over 3,000] (XLS). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года [All-Russia Population Census of 2002] (in Russian).
  11. "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров" [All Union Population Census of 1989: Present Population of Union and Autonomous Republics, Autonomous Oblasts and Okrugs, Krais, Oblasts, Districts, Urban Settlements, and Villages Serving as District Administrative Centers]. Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года [All-Union Population Census of 1989] (in Russian). Институт демографии Национального исследовательского университета: Высшая школа экономики [Institute of Demography at the National Research University: Higher School of Economics]. 1989 – via Demoscope Weekly.
  12. "История Воркуты"(in Russian)(retrieved August 3, 2004)
  13. "История Воркуты"(in Russian)(retrieved August 3, 2004)
  14. "Историческая справка. МО ГО "Воркута""(in Russian) (retrieved August 3, 2004)
  15. "Vorkuta Miners Hold Authorities Prisoners". Russia Today. www.aha.ru. Retrieved July 18, 2008.
  16. Keller, Bill (August 27, 1990). "At Gulag Cemetery, a Struggle Against Forgetting". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  17. "Pogoda.ru.net" (in Russian). Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  18. Myers, S.L. (October 20, 2005). "Old Ways of Life Are Fading as the Arctic Thaws". The New York Times. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  19. "Vorkuta". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved July 18, 2008.
  20. "Russian Coal Mine Accident in Vorkuta Kills 36, Including 5 Rescuers". Associated Press. February 28, 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2016.

Sources
  • Государственный Совет Республики Коми. Закон №13-РЗ от 6 марта 2006 г. «Об административно-территориальном устройстве Республики Коми», в ред. Закона №171-РЗ от 26 декабря 2014 г. «Об упразднении населённого пункта Верхняя Седка, расположенного на территории Прилузского района Республики Коми, и внесении в связи с этим изменений в некоторые Законы Республики Коми». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Республика", №44, 16 марта 2006 г. (State Council of the Komi Republic. Law #16-RZ of March 6, 2006 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of the Komi Republic, as amended by the Law #171-RZ of December 26, 2014 On Abolishing the Inhabited Locality of Verkhnyaya Sedka Located on the Territory of Priluzsky District of the Komi Republic, and on Amending Various Laws of the Komi Republic Accordingly. Effective as of the official publication date.).
  • Государственный Совет Республики Коми. Закон №11-РЗ от 5 марта 2005 г. «О территориальной организации местного самоуправления в Республике Коми», в ред. Закона №171-РЗ от 26 декабря 2014 г. «Об упразднении населённого пункта Верхняя Седка, расположенного на территории Прилузского района Республики Коми, и внесении в связи с этим изменений в некоторые Законы Республики Коми». Вступил в силу 1 апреля 2005 г.. Опубликован: "Республика", №44–45, 17 марта 2005 г. (State Council of the Komi Republic. Law #11-RZ of March 5, 2005 On the Territorial Organization of the Local Self-Government in the Komi Republic, as amended by the Law #171-RZ of December 26, 2014 On Abolishing the Inhabited Locality of Verkhnyaya Sedka Located on the Territory of Priluzsky District of the Komi Republic, and on Amending Various Laws of the Komi Republic Accordingly. Effective as of April 1, 2005.).
  • Adapted from the article Vorkuta, from Wikinfo, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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