Koryaks and Kerek - Settlements

The traditional dwellings of nomadic Koryak reindeer herders were portable frame houses that were covered by a tarp of reindeer hides, with internal compartments used as sleeping chambers. The settled Koryaks lived in semiunderground huts with an upper entrance. They had the same type of construction in both Chukotka and Kamchatka. Koryak summer dwellings were huts on stilts. In the nineteenth century settled Koryaks started to build Russian-type frame houses.

In the largest settlements of the Koryak Autonomous District (including the district center, Palana), Koryaks are a minority. They predominate in villages that are connected with reindeer herding, such as Sedanka, Lesnaiia (the western coast), Aianka (the northern, continental part of the district), or in the less noteworthy (from the point of view of new arrivals) Tymlat (the eastern coast). All Koryak villages have electricity and radio (television is spreading), but they do not have running water or sewer systems.