Yakutsk: How do people survive in this coldest place on Earth?

Winter is here, and the world is starting almost to freeze. Winters are the time for joy, celebrations and beauty. When we talk about beauty, it means white magic, and it all looks good; in reality, it is also hard to survive.

There are regions worldwide where winter temperature goes as low as -50 to -70 degrees Celsius or sometimes even below this. But as the sun’s distance differs worldwide, the weather conditions also differ in the world’s coldest regions. There is one region on this planet where people experience the freezing extremity than any part of the world.

Yakutsk, a city in Russia, not only has the lowest temperature on Earth but is also rich in diamonds, gold, and other mineral resources. Know about Yakutsk It is the capital city of the Sakha Republic or Yakutia and is located on the Lena River. Yakutsk used to be a small fort built by Russian Cossacks who were exploring Siberia in 1632.

Today, the city has a population of over 2,50,000-3,00,000 people and is a mixture of modern buildings, Soviet time blocks of apartments and old wooden houses. The city was constructed on permafrost, a layer of frozen soil that never melts and is hundreds of metres deep. Most buildings are perched on stilts to prevent melting of the ground below from the buildings’ heat.

Temperature in Yakutsk Yakutsk is the only place in the world with a high seasonal difference. It is the coldest in the world, with winter temperatures dipping as low as -50 °C or more. Summers here are warmer, recording an average temperature of 24°C.

Survival of the fittest? Life in Yakutsk As the winters have set in, the place has started to freeze and has turned white. While we ask many questions about how the people and animals survive there, they know how to deal with the situation. People adapt remarkably to all that life throws at them, which is fascinating.

We often see people get upset or sad while struggling in average temperatures. It is the opposite in Yakutsk, where people are happy as roads, markets, public transportation, supermarkets, hotels, coffee shops, restaurants, and other common forms of primary infrastructure are available. How do Yakutsk people dress? According to a resident, as quoted in Reuters, you don’t really feel cold in the city, or maybe it is just the brain that adjusts and says everything is normal.

Layers of clothing are needed most of the time to stay warm. But there are days when it is freezing, and these layers are also of no help. The only way people stay warm is to stay inside.

Despite this, thick jackets and multiple layers of clothing will always make people appear larger than they are. In most cases, it takes up to 15 minutes for people in Yakutsk to wear the appropriate clothing to stay safe outside. Most Sakha people living in this area are Turkic Nomads’ offspring.

Their diminutive size makes them highly tolerant of the chilly climate. They benefit from their shorter stature because they are less likely to lose body heat than people with more prominent lengths, who are more susceptible to the cold. They have adjusted to the super climate.

Food and water Drinking water is from the river except that the water there is not liquid, but ice. Those needing drinking water go there to cut some ice cubes, bring them home, place them into a container, and then shatter the ice to pieces so it melts into drinkable water. No one needs a freezer here.

The atmosphere is suited for that task, and the people use it to their advantage. Food items such as fruits and meats are expected to hang out from buildings’ windows as the atmosphere is even more effective than in high-tech freezers. Everything freezes in minutes Everything in this city, from the trees that line the streets to the fish sold in the markets, is frozen solid; nails could be driven through wood with them.

Even the most delicate items, like bananas, become as hard as rocks. Many things will freeze without warm covers if left out in the open for over 10 minutes. The icy air will snare anything and everything.

A drop of boiling water into the air does not result in a liquid return to the ground. Most of the time, it turns into ice crystals immediately and disappears into the atmosphere. If a house is not built on stilts, the heat from the structure melts the permafrost beneath it, causing the building to sink.

People go outside, but only briefly, to avoid frostbite. Car batteries can freeze due to the extremely low temperatures, and the city is constantly enveloped in a thick fog. Dangers Of Body Exposure People only expose their faces to be able to see, but this leads to frozen eyelids and noses.

Without hand gloves, one won’t be able to survive. Even taking off for five minutes can lead to severe frostbite that can be very painful. One should touch the metal as there is a high chance of skin sticking to the metal, which would result in difficulty when trying to break the skin contact with the metal.

In Yakutsk, pipes used for transporting water and natural gas are built above the ground, as digging the ice on the land and laying pipes there is almost impossible. One would expect that from a city that sits on permafrost, which measures up to 140 m deep. .