In the flood zone

Today, the next Eastern Economic Forum has opened in Vladivostok, the event takes place on the island of Russian , the modern infrastructure of which was actually rebuilt from scratch to the Summit of the organization of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in 2012. About 650 kilometers to the north of this "front window" of the Russian Far East is the Big Ussuri Island , which was much less lucky. In 2008, part of its territory crossed China and is now actively built up with new hosts. The Russian lands of the Great Ussuri, after the strong flood of 2013, are still in decline, and people live in dilapidated houses.

This summer, Russia and the PRC agreed to jointly master the Big Ussuri Island and create here "the territory of advanced development with a tourist bias." This is not the first attempt to attract Chinese investors to the island and thus solve the most difficult infrastructure problems. A large Ussuri - these are 350 square kilometers and about 200 residents, many of whom survived a destructive flood in 2013 and continue to live on the island under a constant threat of new flooding.

Since 2008, when half of the island was transferred by Russia to China, there were many ambitious plans for its joint development. In 2014, a year after the flood, the Government Commission for the Development of the Far East discussed the construction of a large Ussuri port for tourist vessels, a spiritual and educational center, "surrounded by settlements with a traditional Russian way of life", the Martial Arts Palace, the International Center for the Study of Amur and Agricultural Park. Two years ago, it was planned to build a passenger and cargo transition to China on its territory.

Experts estimate the total cost of such construction at 17.6 billion rubles

All these grandiose plans, however, still remain unrealized. Amendments to the Water Code adopted in 2013 prohibit any capital construction in the potential flooding zone "without special protective measures", in other words, without the construction of protective dams. Experts estimate the total cost of such construction at 17.6 billion rubles. Until now, this money was not in the budget, and the search for private investors ended in failure.

Now the Chinese side states that it is ready to promote the construction on the island of infrastructure, in particular, protective structures. What this assistance will look like and when the construction of dams can begin is not yet clear.

Meanwhile, even today, people live in the Great Ussuriysk in two villages. The village of Bychikha (it has long been called the fortified is a former military town, about 130 people remained in it. In 2013, large water did not reach these places. But the village looks like after a natural disaster. People here live among the ruins of Soviet barracks and dilapidated five -story buildings. Many houses were abandoned, in 2013 the apartments during the flood were cut off from heating. Heat in houses appeared only at the end of last year.

Ambulance and firefighting to the village, if something, will not go

To get from the village to Khabarovsk is a big problem. Although in 2013 the capital bridge was solemnly opened across the Amur channel, connecting the village with the large land. But from the bridge to the village the path runs along the four -kilometer protective dam - a hydraulic embankment, the passage along which is prohibited. For several years, the residents of the village had to overcome this long way to the nearest bus stop on foot, including in harsh frosts. Only recently, the authorities launched a free bus that carries islanders to the Great Earth. But the ambulance and firefighting to the village, if something, will not go.

The village of Ussuriysky, which is popularly called the "plague", suffered most of all from the flood of 2013. In the XIX - beginning of the 20th century, anti -fiction quarantine came here by the courts arrived from China. You can get here only on a ship during the river navigation season. The path along the river to the city takes 15-20 minutes. In winter, local residents at their own peril and risk get to the right bank along the frozen Amur.

Today, about 50 people live in the village. These are those who, for various reasons, could not get new apartments in Khabarovsk and remained on the island.

Adedelebaev’s pensioners moved to the Great Ussuriy six years ago from Yakutia. For two years they built a house here, completed the construction just in 2013, on the eve of the flood.

Immediately after a spontaneous disaster, President Vladimir Putin flew to the Big Ussuri Island. In the company of the plenipotentiary Yuri Trutnev and the Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Vyacheslav Shport, he also visited the house of the Adelbaevs.

Putin asked us: "Will you have enough a million for repairs?" We said that enough

- Putin asked us: "Will you have enough a million for repairs?" We said that enough. We could ask for three, five, and six million, but we are not greedy. Later, the independent commission estimated the repair of 2.4 million rubles, but they did not give us a penny. The Khabarovsk administration refers to the fact that during the flood we had one -room apartment in Yakutia. So we sold it and discharged it from there back in 2011, moving here, ”says pensioner Valentina Adelbaeva .

But the pensioners failed to prove the lack of housing in Yakutia. So the Adelebaevs did not receive a new apartment in Khabarovsk. As they did not see Putin promised to repair money. But the president gave them a photograph in a silver frame, on which they are captured with the Adelbaevs.

The 80-year-old Nina Filimonova remained on the island, who has to live in a dilapidated wooden house.

When there is no wind, it’s still normal. And when he rises, my TV freezes

- When there is no wind, it’s still normal. And when he rises, my TV freezes. In the morning I turn on, but it does not turn on. I lie on the bed near the stove - one side heats up, and the other freezes. So I live. I won’t go to the house of veterans, and here I am like in a birdhouse, but one and I do not depend on anyone. Frankly and okay, ”says Nina Andreevna.

The islander Vera Michurina lived all her life in the Great Ussuri. She received a new apartment in Khabarovsk. But on the island she had a summer house and garden that she does not leave.

Floods occurred constantly, and then we lived on roofs or in river barges

- Here, our whole family lived, mother worked in river transport, lit a bacon. The floods occurred constantly, and then we lived on roofs or in river barges. By September, the water left, we began to dry at home, paint, repair. And everything was good, but now I am very sad and sad: I lived here all my life, and there is nothing left of that life, ”says Vera Sergeevna.

Formally, the territory of the island village of Ussuriysky remains part of the industrial region of Khabarovsk. However, there is no more municipal housing there.

- The village is officially listed with us, there are only the houses of the private sector, which are still suitable for living. All -apartment houses are all demolished. Many were given housing in return for the lost, and no one took away ownership of land and houses from their home. Nobody really abandoned people who really live on the island now, ”says Alexei Nazarenko, deputy head of the housing and communal services department.

At the same time, the first -aid post is closed at the Bolshoi Ussuriysk, stores are eliminated, garbage is not exported from the village. An ambulance and police refuse to come here. The City Hall of Khabarovsk says that the islanders have a special boat of the Ministry of Emergencies at the disposal of the islands, at which in critical situations you can get to the city. Only now the islanders themselves have never seen him.

Cut off most of the year from the Great Earth and the islanders unnecessary to anyone heard about the joint Russian-Chinese plans for the development of the Great Ussuri. Tourists from the Middle Kingdom often come to their village.

The Chinese began to express a grudge: they landed their territory, but our their own

-They are interested in how we live here, they ask what is behind the village and whether we know about the plans of our government-whether there will be something to develop here. But what can we answer? And the Chinese have already begun to express a resentment recently: they have landed their territory, but our own do not. We cannot open customs, we are not building anything. And China is waiting for when it will be possible to drive in Khabarovsk by car, carry products and goods, ”says the islander Lyubov Suslova .

Meanwhile, the western part of the island is developing. The Chinese have already built a new border outpost, a hotel complex, a botanical garden and an 81-meter pagoda, which, as they say, an excellent view of the Russian shore, is opened in the PRC). And in August, the Far Eastern regional community of the tourism industry signed an agreement with the Chinese Corporation Kan Hi, which received the right to tourist administration of the Bolshaya Ussuri Island. The Chinese company will develop tourist programs and attracting tourists to a large Ussuri, and they themselves will be able to compare how the western and eastern part of the island has been developing differently in recent years.