The Kuril Islands or Northern Territories: a centre of volcanic activity

The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are an archipelago of 56 islands found between the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia and the island of Hokkaido in Japan. View the islands here on Google Maps. On these islands there are over 150 volcanoes with 35 of them still active. The islands are on what is called the Kuril Trench or the Greater Kuril Ridge which is a deep geological fault in the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the so called Ring of Fire or the circum Pacific seismic belt which links some of the most seismic areas in the world: New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Alaska, California,Mexico and Chile.

There are also several hot springs in this area, while earthquakes and volcano eruptions are very common events. Earthquakes in this islands might also caused tsunami thatcould also reach the Californian coast. The latest was in 2007 in the Atlasov Island (famous for its volcano with a perfect cone) which caused a minor tsunami to the Californina coast. In 2009 there a was a spectacular eruption of Sarychev Peak which was powerful enough to expand the island. The weather is also extremely cold in winter and it can snow for even eight months a year, the summers are not much better as they cold, wet and foggy. Rationally one would think that with the continuous eruptions, earthquakes and long cold winters, no one would want to live in such a place but the islands are inhabited by over 16.000 people although the only viable economy on the islands is fishingand many people are actually very poor.

The islands and the surrounding waters are home to many different species of fish and crabs, there are also many otters, sea lions and seal. Given the geographical locations the islands are also a paradise for bird watching. The Ainu people were the original inhabitants of the Keril Islands who were the ethnic group that also inhabited Hokkaido island in Japan. Russia (and the Soviet Union in the past) and Japan have been fighting for centuries for these islands (the Japanese call them the Northern Territories) and the population now is mostly composed of several Russian ethnic groups as since the end of the Second War World Japan had to give them to the Soviet Union. Curiously because of this dispute neither Russia or Japan have ever formally ended the Second World War.