Zhanatas is the largest abandoned city in Kazakhstan. Zhanatas: life after the hurricane why Zhanatas is abandoned

If you query Google search results for the word "Zhanatas", you can see that along with this name, users often search for the phrase: "Zhanatas is a ghost town." Indeed, on the Web you can find many pictures and videos of abandoned Zhanatas five-story buildings, standing without windows and doors. In the 90s, an impressive part of the inhabitants of this city, located in the Zhambyl region, left their homes and left for a better life to other places. And the city was almost on the verge of extinction. But a few years ago, the seemingly impossible happened - Zhanatas began to revive. The emergency five-story ghost buildings began to be demolished, and those that are still in good condition were restored and people settled in them (while significantly saving on the construction of new housing). The city began to noticeably change, and now a citizen who has come here will not even turn his tongue to call it depressive. Renat Tashkinbaev and Turar Kazangapov returned from Zhanatas with a strong opinion that, if desired, any similar town or village of our vast country can be brought out of depression in the same way.

From the window of the non-residential five-story building of Zhanatas, we look at quite a residential building.

This house stands out from the rest of the landscape - it is painted in pleasant colors, on backyard there is a playground and gazebos. The whole territory is fenced.

This house was purchased and restored by a large company (in Zhanatas this enterprise is engaged in the production of mineral fertilizers), settling its employees in it.

We observe all this beauty from the opposite house, which so far looks different. And the word "yet" in this case is the key.

"It turns out that the neighboring yellow and blue house with a playground and a fence used to be just the same box without windows and without doors?" - we are interested in a local resident.

“Yes, exactly the same. And our house was the same, we took it and renovated it,” says a man who moved to Zhanatas ten years ago.

“Now the city has noticeably revived. And at that time the lights were not on in the streets at night, it was dark and scary, there was no gas, the electricity was turned off in the houses, there were hard times, people baked bread on the street. Now everything is fine,” notes our companion.

“We came here in 2008, at that time a lot of houses were empty, then some were demolished, some are now being slowly restored. Before you come to us from Taraz, on the right side the whole microdistrict was empty. Now there are 68 houses in the city in total demolished," he says.

There is information on the website of the akimat of the Zhambyl region that just a year ago there were 214 non-residential houses in Zhanatas, of which 111 were recognized as emergency and were subject to demolition.

As we were told in the housing and communal services department of the district, today all these emergency houses have been demolished. Meanwhile, six five-story buildings have been restored and there are still 16 non-residential buildings that will also be restored over time.

On the Web, you can find several videos about Zhanatas, in which journalists talk about how local residents, trying to make at least a little money, extract metal from the ruins, which they then sell for scrap.

But, judging by the fact that during our visit we did not see the hunters for protruding rebar, it can be assumed that they no longer do this in Zhanatas. "We don't have such houses now, where it would be possible to collect scrap metal," we were told in the housing and communal services department.

In addition, it seems that now the local authorities are keeping an eye on non-residential buildings here.

From the side of the entrances of empty five-story buildings, you can see an inscription prohibiting entry into non-residential buildings.

Earlier, the akimat of the region reported that after the changes that had taken place, its former residents, who once left here, began to return to Zhanatas. In particular, it was mentioned that over 600 people returned to the city.

Vladimir Ivanovich Nesterenko is one of them. This man came to Zhanatas in the 1970s to work as an excavator operator at the mine (the city arose in 1969 in connection with the start of phosphorite mining). “First, in the 70s of the last century, I came from Ukraine to Kyzylorda on a Komsomol ticket, worked for five years, but the climate there was unbearable, heat and dust storms,” the man tells about his life. Then he met the servicemen who served in Zhanatas, talked to them, and they advised him to go to the Zhambyl region.

“They said: you will earn good money there as an excavator operator. And in fact, at first they made good money. There were two of us with a friend, we took tickets and came here with him. I remember how they would take us to the Karakum sands, where only saxaul grows , and for a whole week. We collected food, cooked for ourselves. And on Saturday after work, then there was a shortened day, they came for us and for the weekend we went home to the city. On Monday again for a whole week. I'm about 12 worked for years," says the pensioner.

Having retired in the 90s, Vladimir Ivanovich went to his daughter in the Krasnoyarsk Territory (Russia). Lived there for some time and decided to return to Zhanatas to another daughter who lives here. "In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the climate is harsh - 50 degrees below zero, I'm not used to this, I love such warm winters as we have here. In general, I have three daughters, all of them graduated from universities in Astana, the specialists are good, I'm glad for them, although our mother died early and it turned out that I taught them myself, "says the man.

“Pay attention to the windows in the entrance, but I covered it with a piece of fiberboard, and it didn’t take a month for the kids to remove one sheet, such children, it’s just awful,” he says. And for some reason, there are no entrance doors in the entrances of this house.

“Zhanatas changed a little. And then, I remember, there was a blockage in general,” the man notes.

The residents themselves call this plan grandiose and hope very much that it will be possible to implement it.

"Compared to how it was before, we are getting better and better, there are improvements, and big improvements. Houses are being restored, for example, the ninth microdistrict was completely destroyed - everything was removed, these empty houses that were abandoned, they were all cleaned The queue for housing in the city is moving forward, so my daughter is on the waiting list for an apartment, and next year or a year later she will already receive an apartment from the restored houses, "says Nadezhda Mikhailovna Menshova.

She came from Kostanay to Zhanatas on a Komsomol ticket in 1979 and actually built the entire city.

“When there was devastation, there was no light, there was no heating, there were strikes, they didn’t give money, we took everything with coupons - these were the hardest times, then a lot of people left,” says Nadezhda Mikhailovna.

“I also wanted to leave, but my husband loves Zhanatas so much, he didn’t want to do anything, and we didn’t budge, he works for me as a Belazist at the plant,” she says.

At the entrance of her house, a sign has been hanging for a long time, saying that Friday is the day of cleanliness.

“So write all the good things about our city. And in general, invite them to visit us, let them come to our city, we don’t have anything so terrible, even the criminal situation is not bad. It’s very beautiful here, especially in the mountains, we there is a pioneer camp "Zhuldyz" - oh, what a beauty there, just virgin beauty: poppies, tulips ... So come in the summer, "the locals beckon.

Now the population of Zhanatas is slightly more than 21 thousand people. According to the grandiose master plan, in 2050 the number of local residents should almost double and reach 40,000.

Text by Renat Tashkinbaev, photo by Turar Kazangapov

For reference. Zhanatas- a city in the south of Kazakhstan, the administrative center of the Sarysu region. Distance from Almaty is 694 km, travel time is eight hours. The population of Zhanatas is now 21,800.

And now a little history. For millions of years, the Zhambyl region and the Karatau mountains kept countless treasures, until scientists discovered the Karatau phosphorite-bearing basins. The history of Zhanatas is inextricably linked with the beginning of phosphorite mining in this region, which began in the late forties of the last century. At the mining plant, a small village of Burkitty appeared, in which the workers lived.

The mining industry developed in those years in an incredibly short time. In order to ensure the normal functioning of the enterprises of the extractive industry, it was necessary to build new cities.

So in 1969, a new, young city appeared on the map of Kazakhstan - the city of the future with the promising name "Zhanatas", which means "new stone" in Kazakh.

And citizens from all corners of the vast country of Soviets were drawn to Zhanatas to the all-Union construction site - to build their happiness among the brown slopes of the Karatau mountains. Someone went here on a Komsomol ticket, and someone - for the sake of a high salary at the Karatau mining enterprise. Participated in the construction of the city and special builders - prisoners serving time in a colony-settlement.

Zhanatas grew and changed before our eyes, resembling a green oasis in the middle of a meager landscape. In a matter of months, new residential microdistricts and buildings of enterprises were erected. Every inhabitant of the young city was provided with work and housing. Young Zhanatas residents were brought up in kindergartens, studied at schools, visited the palace of pioneers, and spent summer vacations in pioneer camps. Any worker knew that the enterprise where he works would provide him with a ticket to a sanatorium, a decent salary and a pension. The Soviet economic model did not allow enterprises to go bankrupt because they were under state control.

Its founders shared their memories of that prosperous and kind Zhanatas with us.

Valery Krakhmalev, builder. He built the city from its first stone.

- The city was built by prisoners - "chemists", and builders from all over the union, and Komsomol construction teams. But, despite such a contingent, we never had conflicts. All lived and worked together and cheerfully. In order for the city to develop, a house-building plant was built, which had no analogues in the entire Soviet Union. We rejoiced in everything: every house we rented, every sidewalk. We had one cinema for the whole city, and we ran there from work in advance to buy tickets.

And how painful it was for me to watch how our city was dying, how the houses that I built with my own hands were crumbling...

Vladimir Kolodko, honorary citizen of the Sarysu region.

- In the late eighties there was a shortage of food everywhere, and our city was supplied by Moscow. We didn't know what a deficit was. We always had everything in abundance. In stores, there were different kinds of sausages, and saiga meat at seventy kopecks per kilogram.

It was a wonderful time. My wife and I lived in a lorry, and when the child was due, we received in turn a good three-room apartment. We had water supply around the clock. We did not know what interruptions in water or light were.

In 1989, fifty-three thousand people lived in Zhanatas. Life was in full swing here. The city of the future belonged to those cities of the Zhambyl region, which were the flagships of the chemical industry of Soviet Kazakhstan.

Developed infrastructure and conditions for a normal life made it possible to consider the city prosperous and modern. The only inconvenience is the harsh climate with winter frosts and snowstorms, with summer heat and dust storms. But all this was offset by high wages and a guaranteed social package.

But at that time, none of the residents could even think in what inhuman conditions they would have to exist in the future, and that their city would become one of the most depressing settlements Kazakhstan.

collapse Soviet Union led to the fact that the enterprise, for which the city was created, could not provide not only the city, but also its employees with neither wages nor social benefits. This was explained by the lack of cash. Although a few years earlier, the Karatau production association was a billionaire.

The shutdown of the main enterprise in the early nineties completely changed the face of Zhanatas. Most of of the working-age population moved to other, more prosperous cities. The city of the future turned into a dead city, where only those people who had nowhere to go remained to live. They had to put up with all the hardships and difficulties that fell to their lot.

Along with the economy, all the objects of the city also fell into decay. Entire high-rise blocks were abandoned and dismantled. Electricity was supplied for two hours a day, there was no hot or cold water at all, and most importantly, people had no money. The Zhanatas survived as best they could.

Now it is remembered as a bad dream. And today's Zhanatas is less and less reminiscent of a post-war city. There are no longer those abandoned high-rise buildings that were opened to the eye at the entrance. They were taken down.

A major role in the history of Zhanatas was played by the EuroChem mineral and chemical company, which allocated subsidies for the development of the city, and thanks to which the city takes on a second life.

On October 28, 2013, EuroChem announced the implementation of a new large-scale project for the construction of mining and chemical complexes. With the advent of the company in Zhanatas, they began to produce phosphorite ore at the Kok-Jon deposit.

We made a tour of Zhanatas. In the daytime, it looks like a completely deserted city. To our question: “Where is everyone?” - the driver replied: "Who is at work, and who hid from the heat." And only in the evening, when the forty-degree heat subsided, people began to appear on the streets.

How do residents of Zhanatas remember their city yesterday and how do they see it today and in the future? Do they have a desire to move to a more prosperous place? This is what we decided to ask them.

Jeanne:

— Our family moved to Zhanatas in 1987. My dad worked as a pharmacy manager, and my mom worked as a pharmacist.

Previously, the city was on the Moscow supply. We had something in our stores that was not in Alma-Ata or in Dzhambul. We dressed very well according to coupons. But in 1995 we had to move from here to Taraz.

— I have been working in Zhanatas since 2014. The city has changed over the last three years. There used to be unemployment in the city. And now many jobs have been created. And when the EuroChem plant is built, there will be even more of them. The cost of apartments, which used to be just abandoned, has grown very much. I like this city, and everything suits me here.

Tatyana:

— My parents brought me to Zhanatas in 1968, when construction was just beginning. My parents came here on a Komsomol ticket. Then there were only three barrack-type houses, a shop, a cinema and a dance floor. The city grew with me. And collapsed in the nineties before my eyes.

“Now the city is recovering, and we are happy with every new house. We are not going to move from here, because my children and granddaughter were born here. We have great prospects for the future. The main thing is that there is work and housing. And people return to Zhanatas even from Russia.

Ainura:

— I came to Zhanatas six years ago for my husband's work. At the time, it was a terrible picture. At the entrance to the city was the destroyed ninth microdistrict. I was very upset: “My God! Where did I go?!”

But now I love this city. The infrastructure is developing here, the city is changing before our eyes. New kindergartens are opening. Of course, we do not have enough entertainment centers, but soon all this will appear. Here I have good job which I am not going to change. Zhanatas has a great future.

Yermek:

— Our family moved to Zhanatas in 1979. Ten years ago I left to work in another city. But then I returned to the same house where I once lived, and for the third year now I have been living and working in Zhanatas.

“Now the city has changed for the better. Roads are being repaired. There were traffic lights. We even have a talking traffic light. And the inhabitants had some kind of enthusiasm, a spark in their eyes, due to the fact that the city is being revived. Social status is changing. People started making money.

Erdaulet:

- We are fine. People are getting employed. I have a family, small children, but, thank God, I can feed them. Light and water appeared in the houses. True, water is supplied for eight hours, but it is.

“Now we have a place to go. The city authorities renovated the children's park and built a presidential park with the help of EuroChem. Life is getting better. What was destroyed in the nineties is now being restored. And soon it will be even better.

Farhat:

— I have been living in Zhanatas for twenty years. When the city collapsed, there was a desire to leave. But now the city is flourishing, and I don't want to leave it anymore. I'm in business. Zhanatas is a small city, and I do everything that is in demand.

- I have several outlets, a construction company. I visit Almaty and by example big city learning to build my business here.

Konstantin and Victoria were born in difficult times for Zhanatas and remember their childhood very well, which was very different from the life of children in the capital.

Victoria:

— After the EuroChem company appeared in our city, life began to improve. Roads, houses, parks, kindergartens began to be built.

We don’t have nightclubs or discos yet, but I’m not bored - there is the Internet. I heard that an entertainment center for young people will be built in the city soon.

I love my city and don't want to leave for good, except perhaps to study after school. I think life will get better with time.

Konstantin:

— Move to a big city? I think no. Zhanatas is calm and quiet, the only thing is that there is nowhere for young people to go. Our young people are mainly involved in sports, but there are no other entertainments yet. They say that in the early nineties life in the city was more fun. But I am sure that in a few years the city will be as prosperous as ever.

We continue our tour of the city.

The city reservoir is a favorite and safe resting place for the Zhanatas children. Here they are saved from the scorching heat. The water in the lake is warm and clean, and lifeguards are on duty on the shore.

But very soon a swimming pool will appear in the city at the leisure center, where Zhanata residents will be able to swim all year round.

The City Monument of Glory and the square around it were once in a deplorable state. Now the place has been completely refurbished. Paving slabs were laid out in front of the monument, flower beds appeared.

Opposite the Monument of Glory there is a house of unusual architecture - the famous Bastille. Today this building is just a surviving artifact of those times.

A new mosque for five hundred people began to be built in the city center last autumn. And just recently, she opened her doors to parishioners.

Now the residents of Zhanatas have their own new restaurant. Very soon he will begin to receive guests.

This is what the bus stops look like. There are no city buses in Zhanatas, but soon they will start running around the city public transport. In the meantime, residents use taxi services. Its cost on a call is 200 tenge to anywhere in the city, and if you go outside and “catch” a car, the trip will cost only 100 tenge.

The railway track and the bridge divide the city into two parts: neighborhoods and the private sector. Zhanatas is the terminus of the railway line from the city of Taraz.

The labor activity of many Zhanatas residents is very closely connected with the Kazphosphate enterprise. This is one of the largest export-oriented enterprises in Kazakhstan. It unites several divisions in seven regions of the country. Kazphosphate mines and produces phosphorites, phosphate mineral fertilizers, yellow phosphorus and its derivatives. The company exports its products to Europe and CIS countries, China, Afghanistan and Iran.

The private sector, located right at the foot of the Karatau ridge, looked like a small piece of the Crimean coast to us.

On the mountain, like a beacon, rises the district mosque "Zhanatas". We met her chief minister Galymzhan Konakbaev.

— I came to Zhanatas three years ago. The city was still abandoned then. We only had this mosque for two hundred people on the outskirts, and now they have built another one in the center. This means that the economy is going up. The old mosque was restored by sponsors. It has been overhauled.

Our city still needs an Orthodox church, because we also have a Russian-speaking population. But with God's help, I'm sure we'll have a temple soon.

Eighty abandoned houses in Zhanatas were recently demolished. But for now, such empty five-story buildings still share the territory of the city with their residential counterparts. Gradually, life in these houses should return. Several houses have already been restored, and all communications have been connected to them. What was destroyed twenty years ago is now taking on new life.

Perhaps a few more years will pass, and Zhanatas will regain its former glory as a successful industrial city. After all, it was built as a "city of the future", which means that it has a future.

Photo gallery

Most modern Kazakhs remember Zhanatas mainly from the events that took place here at the end of the last century. When the desperate population of the abandoned monotown came close to the line beyond which the territory of the rebellion began.

Rallies, road closures, hunger strikes and hopeless campaigns of the Zhanatas people “for the truth” are all attributes of precisely that muddy time of “Perestroika” (timelessness!), which fell like a heavy curtain on local history and covered the former glory of the exemplary city, which Zhanatas was considered to be so recently in Soviet times.

Zhanatas - "New stone". That is, phosphorite, the deposits of which predetermined its appearance. Despite the fact that industrial reserves of phosphorites were found in this area almost the first, they began to develop much later than in Chulaktau (the current city of Karatau, which will be discussed later). Due to the remoteness of Zhanatas from the railway. In the 40s of the last century, when the industrial development of Karatau began, there was no time for fat. There was a war, and it was necessary to quickly master what lay closer.

So Zhanatas appeared on the map as a city only in 1964. And then he became a model for others like him. And for someone even a dream worthy of being removed from their homes. After all, the construction of Zhanatas took place with the lively participation of the Leninist Komsomol, and here, at the all-Union shock construction site, with “Komsomol vouchers” in their pockets, thousands of “the best representatives of Soviet youth” traveled from all over the country.

About the fact that here, with completely different "vouchers", was sent "for chemistry" (conditional sentence with mandatory involvement in labor) no less number of builders of a completely different nature (criminals released on parole) - then they did not say. And although the "chemists" were a noticeable layer at the construction sites of "big chemistry", in those years they were not yet surrounded by an aura of thieves' romance - their time had not yet come and the tone in everything was set by those who were supposed to do this by the concepts of the Soviet era - the communists and Komsomol members.

Zhanatas (as well as neighboring Karatau) was not allowed to die by Kazphosphate, the successor association of the local Karatau mining and chemical plant, and indeed of the entire former phosphorus industry in Kazakhstan. Its importance for the existence of this entire region can hardly be overestimated.

... The city lurking in the hollow floats towards the multi-storey ruins of the microdistrict with gaping window openings and through winds walking through the useless walls of someone's living space abandoned in gloomy times. It seems incredible that a couple of decades ago many thousands of more or less happy residents lived here. Who sent their children to kindergartens and schools in the morning, went out into the yards in the evening, sat with neighbors on the benches and looked at the playing offspring, received their due salary on the 5th and 20th of each month (and arranged small holidays on this worthy occasion), did not really think about their future and, quite possibly, sincerely loved their city.

This apocalyptic neighborhood at the entrance is the main image maker of today's Zhanatas. Dominating over all perception of the future. After meeting with him, many no longer care that this is a picture of only clinical death, that the patient, despite all the efforts of the “doctors”, survived and, at the very least, is recovering. That Zhanatas did not share the sad fate of those hundreds of single-industry towns on the territory of the former Soviet Union, for which their former prospects suddenly became their own verdict.

And this means that the history of the city at the foot of Karatau continues ...

In the early 90s, the city of Zhanatas in the Zhambyl region was well known throughout Kazakhstan. In the once well-fed and prosperous industrial city, strikes took place, the miners blocked railway, electricity was supplied for a couple of hours a day, there was neither hot nor cold water. With the closure of the city-forming enterprises, the population was left without a livelihood. Since then, it seemed that Zhanatas had sunk into oblivion. The recently forgotten "ghost town" again flashed in the news reports - this time in connection with. Victor Magdeev went to the Zhambyl region to find out how people are now surviving in the "dead city".

The road from Taraz to Zhanatas takes 2 hours, and if there is ice, then more. Taxi drivers charge 2000 tenge per person. Once this industrial city attracted specialists from all over the Soviet Union. The mining industry was developing, a huge country needed phosphorus, Zhanatas grew up, got stronger, beckoned with high salaries and other household goods.

Everything collapsed in one moment. Phosphorus production collapsed and could no longer supply the city. Visiting specialists left, many local residents also left their homes. Now about 20 thousand people live in Zhanatas.

Acquaintance with the city began with its inhabitants. Nagima-apai works as a cook at the Taraz Kurylys company, preparing food for the workers. In addition to wages, the company helps her with products. By the way, they are brought to Zhanatas from Taraz.

In Zhanatas, children help adults earn a living from an early age, and 10-year-old Moldyr is no exception. As soon as it appears free time, she is in the wings. Cooking dinner for workers for a girl is a common thing.

Muratbek, a local resident, has been working as a foreman at Taraz Kurylys for over 20 years. While we were having lunch, he told me about how the local population does not live, but survives. There are no own products and goods in Zhanatas, everything is imported, mainly from Taraz. People live off cattle breeding, someone works in the public sector (doctors, teachers), about 1,500 people work at a phosphorus plant. But most of the inhabitants of the provincial town are unemployed.

With Oraz, the supplier of the same construction company, we met in a taxi on the way to Zhanatas. He is from Taraz and works in Zhanatas on a rotational basis. Oraz, a former professional actor and toastmaster, says his age and lack of bookings pushed him to find a more stable job. The position of the supplier suits him quite well. Oraz's company is building water pipes in Zhanatas, helping to rebuild houses and roofs in the aftermath of the storm, and providing building materials and labor as sponsorships.

Life in the city after hitherto unknown is gradually getting better. Many residents confirmed that they received assistance from the akimat: food - flour, rice, Construction Materials- slate. However, many were still dissatisfied: some did not have enough slate, some did not receive water on time, some families were left without any help at all.

Who is smarter and younger, he could grab more building materials for the restoration of housing, and many older people did not receive everything and not immediately.

In microdistrict No. 3, a small queue formed - they give out glass according to the lists. During the hurricane, windows were broken in most residents' houses, and those who managed to submit applications to the akimat can receive the material for free. Those who did not have time to apply on time were left with nothing and can only rely on their own strength.

The representative of the akimat explains that it was necessary to apply in advance.

Due to bad water, people in Zhanatas are losing their teeth. A "golden" smile is a common sight in this area.

Bakhytzhan hopes that his turn will finally come, and he will not go home without a glass. "When the hurricane began, a heavy wind rose, it swept away everything in its path: people, cars, roofs of houses, stones rushed along with the wind. It was scary." Bakhytzhan even thought that the promised end of the world was just a month late. The hurricane caught Bakhytzhan just at the moment when he was walking from home to the store. Usually this way takes him 2-3 minutes, but that day it took about 40 minutes to "walk" to the store.

A whole slab fell off this house, but after an assessment of the state services, the house was considered fit for life. However, all the residents have left for relatives, and no one is in danger of returning home.

Akshakul-apa lived for a week after the hurricane without electricity and communications, but now, “kudayga shukir”, everything has been fixed. She has lived in Zhanatas since 1963 and has never seen anything like the mid-January hurricane in her life.

By order of the akimat, workers are restoring roofs in multi-storey buildings, and residents of the private sector believe that their houses will remain without a roof.

There are people in the city who have not received help from the authorities. They are a minority, but they still exist. On Aulie-ata street, a hurricane demolished half the roof of a house where 3 families live. Only one of them has men who can repair something with their own hands. Residents have repeatedly applied to the akimat, but things are still there - they are not allocated either labor or building materials. They advised us to manage on our own for the time being and promised to review the application in the near future.

The resident of this house, Viktor Sergeyev, cannot cope with the consequences of the hurricane on his own, and his schoolboy son helps him.

The boy was glad for a moment of rest and posed for the camera, sticking his head into one of the roof openings, in the very place where one of the large layers of slate was blown away by the wind.

Other residents of the house are unable to help them. Gulziya Baitasova takes care of her 91-year-old mother and raises her son, a disabled person of the 3rd group, for whom she cannot find a job in Zhanatas.

The son of Gulziya Baitasova is Salamat. There are no jobs in the city for healthy men either, so they have to travel around the regions in search of work. Most often they go to Almaty and agree to any part-time job.

Local builders were “lucky” the most: after the hurricane, work increased.

Kanat has been living in Zhanatas since 1998, after the hurricane he restores the roof on his own, he understands that the akimat is not able to provide assistance to everyone in this situation. The city authorities provided him with materials, and Kanat hired workers for 100,000 tenge.

Before the hurricane, there was a concrete fence here. The wind was so strong that it completely destroyed it.

Despite the fact that the akimat and emergency services threw all their efforts into restoring the city, traces natural disaster are still visible - scattered boulders, torn off roofs, crumpled outbuildings and fences, riddled cars drive around the city. As if after a bombing or shelling. Some blockages were cleared by the residents themselves, although many did not want to take part in the restoration of their city and did not respond to the request of the akim to come out for a city-wide subbotnik.

Consequences of a hurricane from the inside.

After visiting specialists and local residents left Zhanatas in the 90s, a lot of people from the village migrated to the city. They started keeping cattle right in the city.

After the hurricane, many pets were left without a roof over their heads - local authorities do not allocate funds for the restoration of outbuildings. After all, they are not enough even for residential buildings, so they will think about cattle last. The authorities are asking local residents to treat this with understanding and patch the roofs of outbuildings themselves.

Near Zhanatas, which is resurrecting after the hurricane, there are such places, at the sight of which it becomes creepy. Empty blocks of high-rise buildings, black eye sockets of windows, deserted courtyards and streets, not a soul around. Apparently, for this reason, Zhanatas is called a "ghost town" or "dead city".

Local residents are already accustomed to these "dummy". They coexist with the everyday life of the Zhanatas. Children go to school through desert areas without parents.

When I was filming an empty burnt-out entrance, a guy came out of it, who relieved himself there. "Dummy" is now used as free toilets, since there are a lot of them.

The "windows" of the abandoned microdistrict overlook school number 51, where 170 children study.

Erken is unemployed, for a nominal fee he agreed to be my guide and showed me all the "sights" of the city, which he knows like the back of his hand.

The ninth microdistrict from the "observation deck". Previously, these houses were inhabited by people. The youth came to build new town- Zhanatas, the center of the phosphorus mining industry of the Soviet Union.

GPC "Karatau" - a plant for the extraction and processing of phosphorite ore - was once a billionaire enterprise. Having gone bankrupt with the collapse of the Union, it, in fact, caused the death of the city. Now the plant employs about 1500 people.

Timur has been working as a driver at a phosphorus plant for 8 years. Born and raised in Zhanatas. On weekends, he likes to go fishing with friends, and he usually spends his annual vacation in a sanatorium near Zhanatas. Since work at the plant is considered harmful, the company pays for rest in the sanatorium, in addition, it sends their children to children's camps in the summer.

It is believed that those who work at the phosphorus plant are lucky. The city survives only at the expense of this enterprise. If it stops, then Zhanatas will be doomed to complete extinction.

There are no analogues to these phosphorus "crushers" in the entire post-Soviet space. The enterprises created on the basis of the Karatau ore basin of phosphorite ores were the only suppliers of raw materials for the production of mineral fertilizers in all of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, as well as the phosphorus industry of the republic.

Aidar Kelgenbaev works as a gas welder. The plant provides jobs, and people employed in production have, though not large, but stable earnings.

Akatay Abtkerim has been working as a locksmith for 30 years. He still remembers those times when the plant was a billionaire, and workers were attracted by decent salaries and social benefits. No one expected that during the perestroika period the enterprise would go bankrupt and the authorities and local residents would have to raise it again.

Still at the factory works very interesting person. Berikzhan Momynkulov is the right hand of the head of the phosphorus plant and the great-nephew of the Hero of the Soviet Union Bauyrzhan Momyshuly.

One of the former residents of the city of Kairat says that he, an economist with higher education, was forced to leave Zhanatas when he lost his job.

I was forced to leave, like many specialists who came to build a new city in Soviet times.

A city that was on Moscow's supply, a city in which life was in full swing.

A city where young professionals were given apartments in new, freshly built houses connected to electricity, gas and heat.

"What were our feelings when, 20 years after graduation, my classmates and I decided to meet in Zhanatas ... You won't believe it, we - adult men, cried like children, looking at our hometown."

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Here is a map of Zhanatas with streets → Zhambyl region, Kazakhstan. We study detailed map Zhanatas city with house numbers and streets. Real-time search, today's weather, coordinates

More about Zhanatas streets on the map

A detailed map of the city of Zhanatas with street names will be able to show all the routes and roads where the street is located. Koksu and Pushkin. The city is located near.

For a detailed view of the territory of the entire region, it is enough to change the scale of the online scheme +/-. On the page is an interactive map of the city of Zhanatas with addresses and routes of the microdistrict. Move its center to find the desired streets.

The ability to plot a route through the territory - the Ruler tool, find out the length of the city and the path to its center, addresses of attractions.

You will find all the necessary detailed information about the location of the city's infrastructure - stations and shops, squares and banks, highways and lanes.

Accurate satellite map Zhanatas (Zhanatas) with Google search is in its own rubric. You can use the Yandex search to show the house number on the folk scheme of the city in the Zhambyl region of Kazakhstan / the world, in real time. Here