Some Russians are happily moving into new houses built to replace those destroyed by the summer's wildfires, while others will have to wait past the construction deadline.
Overall, wildfires destroyed 3,200 homes across Russia. The government ordered the construction of new houses for all those who lost their homes. Although the plan was to complete construction before December 1, Izvestia correspondents discovered that two weeks past that date, some houses were still not ready.
The Nizhny Novgorod Region in central Russia was hit hardest. In the village of Verkhnyaya Vereya alone, nine people were killed by fires and over 300 houses were destroyed. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the village to monitor the progress of construction, which was completed on time.
"We moved to our new place on October 20, but there was no heating for the first week," said Yekaterina Matyugina of Verkhnyaya Vereya. "Then the builders came and repaired the system, although they did not come at our first request."
The Ryazanov family moved into a new house on October 20.
"We had gas leaks and called up a gas crew. They say they have repaired the pipes, but we still have this smell," Lidia Ryazanova said. "And they still haven't opened our utilities accounts. We can't pay our gas, water and electricity bills without them."
On the other hand, the family is already paying huge bills for sewage, something they did not have before.
"The have installed a 5 cu m cistern, and charge 127 roubles for draining 1 cu m, so we pay nearly 600 roubles per month," Lidia complained.
But she is much more concerned about heating with the cold weather setting in.
"All the houses on our street were built with some new technology. They filled the walls with innovative insulation, but it doesn't seem to work: the walls are simply icy. The indoor temperature is 18 degrees Celsius, but only because it's sunny today," she added.
Wildfire victims in the village of Vatagino are also upset about the cold and large utilities bills. Their houses are heated with electric convector radiators, which consume several thousand roubles worth of electricity every month. And if you switch the radiator off, it becomes chilly in no time. So they installed potbelly stoves and began sending complaints to all the relevant agencies. Officials explain that they had to hire the only construction company that applied for the tender to build the houses and cannot help the residents now.
Local authorities plan to connect the village to a gas distribution grid by 2012. For now, they said they will provide enough wood for the new residents and ask the local power utility for a discount.
Not all fire victims received new homes free of charge, however. Yevgeny Denezhkin of Borkovka said he was asked to pay 659,000 roubles for his new house. He agreed; and he still puzzles over what he had to pay for.
Initially, local authorities offered him a 45 sq m house, which was too small for a family of four. They lived in a 100 sq m house before it was burned down. However, it was not properly registered, and the family had to prove in two different courts that Yevgeny and his sister had lived in the house all their lives.
"Therefore, my sister and I were each entitled to a separate house as big as the one we had. Then they told us that we had to pay. We agreed because the only other option was to live all together in a tiny house. We had just received Putin's compensation then, so we used it," he explained.
Officials in the town of Vyksa follow their own arithmetic. "The local authorities agreed to help and construct two houses to replace the one they lost," explained Oksana Kolysheva, deputy spokesperson for the Vyksa District administration. "They had one 100-square metre house, while the biggest houses built under the programme were 90 square metres; 90 divided by two is 45. But Denezhkin and his sister agreed to pay to have two bigger houses. I don't know why they aren't happy."
"We aren't happy because as we see now, free houses have also been given to families whose dwellings burned down years ago. Handsome new cottages have replaced several shacks that were not inhabited at all. Their owners just never showed up here," Denezhkin retorted.
No complaints have come from Nikolayevka in the Altai Territory, where the last houses built under the wildfire relief programme were commissioned on November 28.
"We're just fine," said Maria Kabanova, whose house burned down on September 8 alongside all the other structures in the village. "Central heating was switched on on December 12, so it's warm now. I have bought some furniture and kitchen appliances..."
Nikolayevka was rebuilt according to a different development plan. The houses were moved farther away from the forest. Pensioners, including Kabanova, were accommodated closer to the centre, where services are located – a pharmacy, a bank, a grocery store, and a social services office.
Due to this change, the residents will have to cultivate different patches of land for their subsistence gardens. The houses, built in autumn, are still a little damp, and it will take a year or two to dry them. But they do not expect it to pose a big problem, given they don't have to live in dug-outs. The designers and builders tried to take people's preferences into account where they could.
"I asked them to make two bedrooms and to expand the sitting-room, and they did it," said Anatoly Gavrilin. "I also wanted a bathroom separate from the toilet, and it was no problem either."
The worst of their worries now is psychological discomfort. It all happened so fast: the destruction of their homes, the loss of all their possessions, the restoration of the village, and finally, resettlement. No wonder many villagers still feel slightly dazed and confused.
"We'll have to get used to our new surroundings. When I need something, I rush to my old storage room without thinking – and there is no storage room. It's gone. Or I go to the shed, and there is no shed," Kisanov said.
But war makes some people rich. When the Nikolayevka residents received their compensations and it became obvious that they would soon have new property, they went to town to buy furniture and other household items only to find that prices had doubled in local stores. A broom that had cost 30 roubles was now 120.
"We had to pay 21,000 roubles for a bed, and it isn't made of gold," Kisanov said. "A set of overstuffed furniture was 31,000, twice what it costs in other towns. We ordered some of our furniture from Barnaul – it was still cheaper even with the added cost of a 500 kilometre delivery."
Nikolay Kuznetsov is the only local resident to have applied to the governor, Alexander Karlin, and obtained, not without some difficulty, the permission to build his own house.
"A house is a reflection of its owner," explained Kuznetsov. "Anyway, I cannot live in a place that someone has built for me."
But construction is not Kuznetsov's only concern. The man also keeps a small zoo.
"My peacock is dead – probably of smoke. But I have ordered a replacement from Moscow and bought two ostriches. I also plan to buy a pony for my grandchildren. I believe we'll soon have a new life, better than before," he said.
* * *
Their houses are heated with electric convector radiators, which consume several thousand roubles worth of electricity every month. And if you switch the radiator off, it becomes chilly in no time.
Polina Kiselyova, Sergei Tyeplyakov