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1927 Crimean Earthquake

A series of powerful earthquakes that hit the Crimean coast in the summer and autumn of 1927, and an organized fundraising campaign in Poltava Region for the victims.

Overview

In 1927, the Crimean Peninsula suffered some of the most powerful earthquakes in magnitude of the early 20th century. The first magnitude 6 tremor occurred on June 26 (epicenter in the Black Sea, southern coast of Crimea) — without severe destruction, only cracks in residential buildings and damage up to a million rubles. Significantly more destructive was the earthquake on the night of September 11–12: three people died, 65 were injured, in the epicentral area intensity reached 9 points, with over 200 tremors recorded (27 within just 11 hours). Off Sevastopol at sea, pillars of smoke were observed from burning methane.

Responding to the disaster, Poltava Region launched a relief campaign: the Poltava District Committee for Relief and the District Executive Committee called on public, cooperative, and professional organizations to collect funds and donations (in money and grain) for the current account of the District Committee at the Poltava branch of the State Bank.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Chronology of 1927 events: June 26 — first magnitude 6 tremor; September 11–12 — main destructive earthquake; autumn — wave of appeals for relief.
  • Scale of destruction: Coastal strip from Alushta to Sevastopol damaged, architectural monuments (Genoese Fortress, Vorontsov Palace), rockslides on the highway near Oreanda, the village of Kikeneiz; in the Yalta district about 70% of structures were damaged; shockwaves reached Simferopol and the foothill/steppe part of Crimea.
  • Organization of relief in Poltava Region: Covered separately in the concept Poltava Region Relief for Victims of the 1927 Crimean Earthquake — fundraising campaign and relief month documented in the State Archives of Poltava Region (F. r-363, op. 1, spr. 715).
  • Scale of damages: Total losses were estimated in hundreds of millions of rubles; hundreds of thousands of workers and peasants of the Crimean Republic were affected.
  • 1927 Earthquake (Source) — publication based on an archival file of the State Archives of Poltava Region (F. r-363, op. 1, spr. 715) on the earthquake in Crimea and Poltava relief.
  • Oreanda — Estate and village where the Church of the Intercession suffered damage during the 1927 earthquake.
  • Crimea Is Ukraine (Project) — broader context of documenting Crimea's connection with Ukraine, within which archival evidence is processed.
  • State Archives of Poltava Region — institution preserving primary documents about the earthquake and relief (F. r-363, op. 1, spr. 715).
  • Pavlo Hollandskyi — architect-archaeologist appointed by the Crimean Central Executive Committee as head of the Commission for Inspection of Destruction and director of studies for restoring damaged buildings after the 1927 earthquake.
  • Mud Volcanoes of Crimea — That same year (1927), a moderate eruption of the Dzhau-Tepe mud volcano occurred on the Kerch Peninsula.
  • Swallow's Nest — local consequence of 1927: the castle was not damaged, but a piece of Aurora Rock broke off into the sea; a crack threatened the rock for ~40 years until the 1967 restoration.