The coldest village on Earth

Oymyakon is a small village that is situated in the north-eastern Russian Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). This place is normally deliberated as the coldest inhabited place on Earth. Located in the heart of Siberia a zone nicknamed as "Stalin's Death Ring" (an earlier destination for political exiles), Oymyakon brags a normal winter temperature of -45°C, along with a one-time world record low of -71.2°C. Unluckily, Oymyakon means "non-freezing water", located as it is to a close by hot spring.

Earlier in 1920s and 1930s, Oymyakon was a spring stop for reindeer herders. However, the Soviet government, in its hard work to settle down the traveling populations, saying that they were difficult to handle as well as technically and culturally recessive, constructed the site an enduring settlement. Presently, the village is the home to some 500 people, as well as till recently had a single hotel without any hot water and also outside toilet. Whereas a flurry of snow in Western Europe can set off schools there to nearby for days, the only school of Oymyakon shuts only when the temperatures fall less then –52C.

Mostly the homes in Oymyakon still burn coal as well as wood for heat and enjoy some modern amenities. There is no mobile coverage in Oymyakon and even if did, it will be unfeasible because mostly the electronics stop working in freezing temperatures.

Fur is deliberated as a luxury in the West however it is the only thing that preserves you warm. Nothing grows here so all the people living here eat reindeer and horsemeat. There is a very short summer season during which the people can grow things, however for the major part of the year people don't eat fruit or vegetables as well. Physicians say the main cause they don't suffer from malnutrition is that there must be much micronutrients in milk of their animals. A single shop offers the provisions of the town as well as along with the jobs in short supply most inhabitants resort to reindeer-breeding, hunting and also ice-fishing for their livings.

Life in Oymyakon is quite tough. Pen ink freezes. Batteries lose power faster as compared to the other batteries. Metal twigs to the skin. There, cars cannot be started without lighting a fire underneath the fuel tank. Axle grease also freezes and is warmed along with the blowtorch. The local power station burns the coal to keep hot water streaming to the homes. When coal conveyances are irregular the power station begins to burning the wood. If the power stops, the town shuts down in approximately 5 hours, as well as the pipes freeze and also crash.

Another problem faced by the freezing temperature is burying of dead bodies in the ground. It normally takes 2 to 3 days to dig a grave in the frozen ground for the dead body. To dig a grave, a blaze is lit for some hours, which permits the ground to melt at some extent. After that the hot coals pushed to the side and then a hole that is couple of inches deep is dug. The procedure is repeated for some days till the hole is quite deep to bury the coffin.

There is not much to do so in Oymyakon, however that does not stop travel corporations from presenting tours to the village in the mid of the winter. The travellers simply make the journey to experience what it is expected to be in a place that cold. Moreover, they are repeatedly taken on tours of native farms as well as museums and get the experience of ice fishing while there is always a chance to take a dip in hot spring of Oymyakon when the air temperature is in the -15°Celsius.