Okha (nivkh. T'oӽ - "dirty river") - a city (since 1938) in Russia, the center of the Okha urban district of the Sakhalin region. Located in the north of Sakhalin Island. Population - 20,016 people. (2020).
In 1880, an oil field was discovered, near which the
settlement of Okhe (later - Okha) grew. However, after several
unsuccessful attempts to find oil, the village was abandoned. Okha
is not included in the list of Sakhalin settlements for 1900. In
1908 there was no settlement at this place.
In 1910, the
first oil was produced on the territory of the city by the
partnership “Heirs of G. I. Zotov and Co” created a year earlier.
The tower, from which the well was drilled under the control of
engineer A. V. Mindov, has survived to this day and is a monument to
the history of the “Tower of Zotov”.
In 1920-1925 it was
occupied by Japan. The first commercial oil was produced in 1921.
Many old-timers believe that Okha was founded in 1925. In October
1925 Okha became the center of the Eastern (later Okha) region. The
city was named after the Okha River. The origin of the name of the
latter still cannot be considered firmly established.
The
city flourished in the 1970s and 1980s. In the small town several
large cultural sites functioned, such as the Neftyanik cinema,
palaces of culture and pioneers. Also, in the mid and late 80s,
construction began on new schools and kindergartens of a new type
with winter gardens, greenhouses ("Zhuravushka" and "Buratino").
During the crisis of the 90s caused by the collapse of the USSR,
the city began to decline, accompanied by a massive departure of
residents. Also, the history of Okha was extremely negatively
affected by the Neftegorsk earthquake in 1995 with a magnitude of
7.6, which completely destroyed the settlement of Neftegorsk,
located 98 km south of Okha. At the same time, it is necessary to
note the decisiveness of the residents of the city of Okha, who
organized themselves into rescue teams and, after a few hours, moved
along the roads broken by the elements under conditions of complete
administrative confusion inherent in the mid-90s, from their
affected city to help Neftegorsk.
All buildings are built no
higher than 5 floors.
The Okha River was first mentioned in the petition of the merchant A.V. Karamushko from the city of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur dated July 7, 1880. It is possible that the name Okha comes from the Evenk word “okha”, meaning the skin from the legs of a reindeer. However, this word also has the meaning of "evil, bad", which is associated with numerous surface oil shows. With this in mind, the name "oha" should be translated as "not a good place." The Nivkh name of Okhi - Vyrgyt - comes from the word "vyrkgyt" - to rot, deteriorate, deteriorate and is translated as "a rotten place". There is also such a legend: once the deer, frightened by the hunters, rushed to run along the green mari, and one fell into a swampy deep "window". When, with the help of the cut branches, the hunters pulled out the unfortunate animal, they saw that the deer's legs and belly were smeared with a black oily liquid. A young Evenk, who noticed that the skin in these places was bursting and blood was oozing, exclaimed: “Oha!”, Which in Evenk means “bad”, “evil”, “thin”.
Okha city belongs to
the regions of the Far North, although it is located south of
Moscow. The Sea of Okhotsk and the cold East Sakhalin Current
determine a harsh climate (moderately cold sea).
Average
annual air temperature - -0.2 ° C
Relative air humidity - 71.7%
Average wind speed - 6.3 m / s
As of January
1, 2013, Okha has air and bus connections with other settlements in
the Sakhalin region and cities in Russia.
The railway service
(the Okha - Moskalvo line and the Okha - Nogliki railway) was
terminated in December 2006 due to the dismantling of the Okha -
Nogliki railway. The Okha - Moskalvo 1520 mm gauge railway line was
dismantled in 1999. The monument to the steam locomotive remains
Air Transport
Air traffic is via Okha Airport. The main
destinations are Khabarovsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
Automobile
transport
At the moment, the construction and repair of a road to
the south of the island in the direction of Nogliki is underway.
There is a bus station that connects the regional center with the
settlements of Moskalvo, Nogliki, Nekrasovka, Tungor, Ekhabi,
Vostochnoye, Sabo, Laguri.