Mass exodus from Arctic Russia

In this apartment block on the edge of the tundra outside Vorkuta town, only one family is left..Buildings around Vorkuta are being surrendered to the Arctic elements as people flee to the south of Russia. .Vorkuta is a coal mining and former Gulag town 1,200 miles north east of Moscow, beyond the Arctic Circle, where temperatures in winter drop to -50C. .Here, whole villages are being slowly deserted and reclaimed by snow, while the financial crisis is squeezing coal mining companies that already struggle to find workers..Moscow says its Far North is a strategic region, targeting huge investment to exploit its oil and gas resources. But there is a paradox: the Far North is actually dying. Every year thousands of people from towns and cities in the Russian Arctic are fleeing south. The system of subsidies that propped up Siberia and the Arctic in the Soviet times has crumbled. Now there’s no advantage to living in the Far North - salaries are no higher than in central Russia and prices for goods are higher.

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Filename: Arctic_JIN 14.jpg
Copyright: Copyright 2009 by Justin Jin. All rights reserved.
Image Size: 4368x2912 / 4.4MB; 35mm abandoned arctic block boarded camp coal cold color colour dark darkness documentary empty exterior freeze freezing gulag house ice issue issues jin journalism justin komi mine mining mono monogorod monotown moscow murmansk news north northern pedestrian people person photo photograph photographs photography photojournalism poverty problems reportage revda russia russian siberia siberian snow social stalin street suffer wind suffering tundra unemployed unemployment vorkuta walk walking winter
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In this apartment block on the edge of the tundra outside Vorkuta town, only one family is left..Buildings around Vorkuta are being surrendered to the Arctic elements as people flee to the south of Russia. .Vorkuta is a coal mining and former Gulag town 1,200 miles north east of Moscow, beyond the Arctic Circle, where temperatures in winter drop to -50C. .Here, whole villages are being slowly deserted and reclaimed by snow, while the financial crisis is squeezing coal mining companies that already struggle to find workers..Moscow says its Far North is a strategic region, targeting huge investment to exploit its oil and gas resources. But there is a paradox: the Far North is actually dying. Every year thousands of people from towns and cities in the Russian Arctic are fleeing south. The system of subsidies that propped up Siberia and the Arctic in the Soviet times has crumbled. Now there’s no advantage to living in the Far North - salaries are no higher than in central Russia and prices for goods are higher.