Chernobly the Lost City

Well, in case you don't know, 26th April of 2007 is the 21st anniversary of the Chernobyl Disaster.. Known as the world's worst nuclear disaster so far, it've killed approximately 60,000 due to the victim's excessive radiation exposure (leading to death or cancer) and direct death due the the explosion in Chernobyl Powerplant's reaction 4. 135,000 people were evacuated. Out of those, 50,000 lived in Pripyat, the nearest city to the powerplant. They were told to pack enough necessities for 3 days. In fact they were later ordered never to return to their homes due to high levels of radiation.




Many of the firefighters who went to the site of disaster were unaware of the extremely high dosage of radiation they were exposed to. The Geiger counter they had was only capable of measuring up to 0.001 röntgen per second (R/s), and in fact the radiation of the immediate area around the powerplant was 5600 times higher than the maximum limit measurable by the counters. They all died 3 weeks later.
The existing shelter, formally referred to as the Object Shelter and often referred to in the vernacular as the sarcophagus, was constructed between May and November of 1986 as an emergency measure to contain the radioactive materials within reactor unit 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (ChNPP). The shelter was constructed under extreme conditions, with very high levels of radiation, and under extreme time constraints. And now, the sarcophagus is collapsing, threatening to expose areas surrounding the powerplant with radiation again.

A doll and a gas mask, covered by the radioactive dust are seen in an abandoned kindergarten in the ghost town of Pripyat, Ukraine. Pripyat, that was built three kilometres from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to house the plant's workers, was evacuated within hours after the April 26, 1986 deadly explosion in Reactor No.4.

Flowers placed on the monument for victims of the Chernobyl's nuclear disaster, in the city of Slavutich. Around 50,000 Pripyat residents were evacuated after the disaster, taking only few belongings, they never returned, workers and their families now live in a the new town of Slavutich, 30 km from the plant. The city was built following the evacuation of Pripyat, which was just 3 km away.

Final thoughts
I remember reading the article My Journey to Chernobyl: 20 Years After the Disaster An article by Mark Resnicoff and watching a documentary flim just days before my exams yet the whole story and image just remain so clear in my mind.The town of Pripyat even had a theme park that was scheduled to be opened on the 1st of May, and the whole town was decorated to celebrate Labour's Day. That day never came as the tragic disaster unfolded on the night of 26th of April. God bless those souls who've perished in the disaster. It also hurts to see how Priyat has fell into a state of disrepair after the disaster. Buildings start to collapse due to structural fatigue and erosion by environmental factors. Radiation still lingers in the air. Village homes, schools, shops were eerily empty.
I wish I could visit Chernobyl one day, and silently feel the graveness of the disaster 21 years ago.

Remembering Chernobyl.