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Andreas, Germany:

Ich habe sehr angenehme Erinnerungen an unseren Ausflug. Alles war perfekt organisiert und ...

2009
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Victims of the accident

The facts divide upon the number of victims of the Chernobyl crash. Of course, the direct victims were mostly the plant workers as well as the firemen, who received deadly doses of radiation. Most of the direct victims are buried at the Mitino cemetery in Moscow. Each body is sealed in concrete coffin, because of its high radiation.

Radioactive pollution spread mostly to the nearby town of Pripyat. This town was erected for power plant workers only three kilometers from the nuclear power plant. During the whole day after the accident, the state officials had not warned the 50 thousand inhabitants about the threat of radioactive pollution. Neither had they provided them with iodine pills helping against the radiation. The power plant accident caused the level of radiation to exceed the natural levels by thousand times. Evacuation of Pripyat took place the day after – on the afternoon of April 27, 1986. The inhabitants were allowed to take only necessary items with them, so as to return in three days. By the time they were evacuated, they were all exposed to large amounts of radiation.

Officially, the Chernobyl disaster affected lives of about 600,000 people. Official documents divide the victims of radiation into several categories. For example, there is the largest group of 200-240 thousand liquidators – rescuers, soldiers that have done decontaminating works, firemen as well as police officers. Moreover, there is the group of about 116 thousand inhabitants of the polluted areas near Chernobyl. Other 220 thousand people were evacuated later from the polluted territories of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. Still, around 5 million people continue living in the polluted areas at the moment.

gRAPHIC by MARCELINO 2009
programmed by daniel.pribula