Chernobyl and Belarus
One of the republics to receive independence from the breakup of the USSR was little Belarus, sandwiched between Poland, Ukraine and Russia. It is Belarus's proximity to Ukraine, more precisely to Chernobyl, only 12 km over the border, which has caused its biggest problem - the ongoing Chernobyl legacy.
On 26 April 1986 there was an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant. The prevailing wind was northerly, thus carrying the escaping radioactivity across the border into Belarus affecting 23% of its territory, 3,678 towns and 2mn of its 10mn population.
When the government eventually broke the news, a hurried evacuation was
organised from the worst affected area near Belarus's border with Ukraine.
There is still a Closed Zone near the border, dotted with ghost villages full of abandoned, irradiated belongings.
The official government issued a radiation map of Belarus which shows
patches of high contamination all over the country.
The health of the population, particularly of children now born to parents who were irradiated while they themselves were children, is giving grave cause for concern. There are high cancer rates among these children, particularly cancer of the thyroid and widespread immune deficiency syndrome which makes them prone to other diseases.
The full extent of the damage is difficult to assess. Some of the nucleides released by the Chernobyl disaster will take thousands of years to disappear. They are spread by wind, by water, by birds and animals carrying seeds and cannot be contained.
Closed Zone
Closed Zone
Closed Zone
Farmstead inside Closed Zone
Elderly couple who have returned to
live in their abandoned village in the
Closed Zone
Interior of abandoned house
in Closed Zone
Interior of abandoned house
in Closed Zone
Inside deserted house
