Beltir

Beltir is a small village in the remote mountainous area of the Kosh-Agach district. It is located at an altitude of 1936 metres.

The name of it is translated as “rivers’ confluence”. And it is really situated at the confluence of 2 rivers, one of which has white milky colour and another – dark blue.

Beltir has become famous after the strong earthquake which happened in 2003 and destroyed the village almost completely. Beltir was practically in the epicenter of the earthquake. The magnitude was 7,5 on the Richter scale. The amount of the energy released at the moment of the strike was equal to a 50 megaton nuclear bomb explosion. Fortunately, there were no victims.

Due to the energy, some frozen subsoil melted and “fountains’’ of water and mud up to 2 metres high appeared in some places and later formed small lakes. One of such lakes turned up just in the Beltir sports stadium. Also, rather deep and long splits appeared in several places of the Chuya Steppe.

The most impressing result of the earthquake is a giant landslide 7 km from Beltir. A huge area of 1 km by 0,9 km together with the forest just slid down the hill for about 350 metres.

Soon after the earthquake Beltir was acknowledged as unsalvageable and a village New-Beltir in another place was built. But some old people decided not to leave their home and to live in the original village. In 2016 the population of Beltir was 77 people.