The Far East island of Sakhalin is still reeling in the aftermath of a series of earthquakes there last week killed two, injured a dozen, and displaced thousands of residents. With hundreds of people still living in tents, federal authorities have said they are unhappy with how local officials handled the disaster. Meanwhile this week saw the resignation of Sakhalin governor Ivan Malakhov.
Following a Monday meeting with Emergency Minister Sergei Shoigu, President Vladimir Putin asked for a full report about what Sakhalin authorities were doing to help the displaced residents. After being briefed on the situation in Nevelsk, a fishing town that was hit the hardest by the August 2 earthquake, Putin asked for "an analysis, how your services were working, how the regional and local authorities were working, and then tell me why people and children slept in tents on a cement floor, why [better conditions] could not be organized during the hardest part?"
"Who is supposed to answer? Where were local authorities, why wasn't the governor there on time?" Putin said in a televised address to the minister on Monday.
Southern Sakhalin was hit with a series of quakes that scored up to 7 on the Richter scale. The first quake hit Nevelsk August 2 at about 1:37 p.m. local time, and caused the most damage. Two people were killed and 12 were injured in the rubble when the Palace of Culture collapsed. Most of the residential buildings suffered substantial faults in their foundations. At least 11 buildings were destroyed and 20 buildings will need to be renovated. The affected housing includes 1,120 apartments, Sakhalin Governor Ivan Malakhov told news agencies Monday.
Earlier Kamil Iskhakov, the presidential envoy to the region, criticized how local authorities, in particular the governor, were dealing with the aftermath of the quake, saying that Malakhov visited the site hit the hardest hit only two days after the quake.
A second, smaller quake struck the island in the early morning hours of Thursday, with an intensity of up to 5 on the Richter scale. Local authorities have declared an emergency situation and are battling the after effects of the disaster. With some 3,500 people needing housing after their damaged homes are demolished, 1,203 temporary shelters have been prepared. Some 653 people are being housed in camps and sanatoriums on the island.
The state of emergency that has gripped the island ran parallel to political developments, when Governor Malakhov resigned on Tuesday. Putin accepted his resignation and appointed Alexander Khoroshavin to take his place. Deputies of Sakhalin's regional parliament voted to uphold Khoroshavin's candidacy during a Thursday session. But while the media tied Malakhov's resignations to allegations of his poor handling of the disaster, Kommersant reported that his post was under question for at least two weeks. Malakhov, meanwhile, has said he plans to remain in Sakhalin.
Immediately upon becoming governor, Khoroshevin scheduled a flight to Nevelsk, the site of the earthquake.
By Anna Arutunyan
