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Tschernobyl-Initiative
in der Propstei Schöppenstedt e.V. |
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Tschernobyl-Initiative
in der Propstei Schöppenstedt e.V. |
Chernobyl and the Catastrophe
In the night from 25 to 26 April 1986, reactor no. 4 of the Lenin Power Plant near Chernobyl exploded and was burnt out over the following days. In this process, large amounts of radioactive substances were emitted into the air which precipitated both in the vicinity of the power plant and in more distant areas. People fell ill and died from the radiation. The radiation led to entire regions in Belarus and Ukraine becoming uninhabitable. The towns of Pripjat and Chernobyl in the direct vicinity of the burst reactor were evacuated within days. The danger of the incident was not made public in Belarus until years later. In one village, almost all men died. Their wives, the grandmothers and children had to leave all their possessions and livestock behind and were forced to migrate. The houses were destroyed and the debris buried. Physicians fought for the lives of children, operated non-stop on thyroid glands, gave radiation treatments to keep metastases from growing and still had to watch death being stronger than their science so often. Despair was felt especially when death could have been prevented by medicines which were unavailable as the entire country suffered from poverty.. Government agencies controlled the radioactivity in food, knowing that the majority of the population was forced to eat uncontrolled foods just to survive. Some people were in so much need that they returned to the contaminated areas because they did not see any possibility of surviving anywhere else. Many people lived in uncertainty: Will the meagre pension be sufficient to survive if the prices keep increasing at the same rate? Will my wife, my husband, our children recover or remain healthy or will the insidious disease catch up with them? Should I carry the baby in my womb to term, not knowing whether it will be born healthy, whether we can raise and feed it? Far more than 100,000 people had to leave their home after the Chernobyl catastrophe. 22% of the soil in Belarus is contaminated by radiation. 300.000 young men were exposed to high radiation doses as liquidators during the clearing work at the reactor. Many hundreds of thousands still live in contaminated areas and subsist on contaminated plants. Since the accident in the reactor on 26 April 1986, aid has been organised in the former Sovjet union as well as worldwide. Young soldiers, firemen and policemen helped - not all of them volunteers - with the clearing work and risked their lives and health. The Socialist states built a new town for those who had lived in Pripjat. This is the town of Slavutitch which was built 50 km east of Chernobyl within 2 years. Citizen's action groups, which provided information and organised "help for self-help" were formed when the Socialist regime was still in power. The Social Ecological Union in Minsk is one of them. The medical system was extended. In Homel, Belarussian physicians established a hospital where young local doctors are trained for work in the region. Enormous help with the establishment and extension of medical care was provided by other countries, by Japan, the US, Austria, Italy, Germany and many other countries. In addition to governmental and semi-governmental agencies, many, one could almost say countless, privately organised groups contribute to aid.
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Chernobyl disaster Reports and pictures
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