teddY-risatioN™

I should have posted this on the 26th of April, but I was tied up with some school work. Sorry for the delay! 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.

I've drawn my inspiration of creating this post from this photojournal titled My Journey to Chernobyl - 20 Years After the Disaster. It is created by Mark Resnicoff who visited the disaster zone in 2006. You can read more about his trip to Pripyat and the Chernobyl Powerplant.

While I was reading his photojournal, I feel so bad for those who've forced to abandone their homes back in 1986. 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.