Crete for life

Home: The Chernobyl Catastrophe

You might remember when, on the 26th April 1986 there was an explosion at the nuclear power plant of Chernobyl, situated in Ukraine near the border with Belarus. The effects were felt in many European countries and around the world, but 70% of the nineteen tons of radioactive material thrown into the air fell on the population of Belarus, poisoning one quarter on the country's best farmland. According to the United Nation report published in 2001, 8.4 million people from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus were exposed to radiation, more that the population of Austria, and 155.000 sq. km of territories were contaminated, an area almost half the size of Italy.

Since then, more than four million people have been resettled, but today, twenty years later, millions continue to live, or have returned to the contaminated areas. The suffering caused by the Chernobyl accident has been exacerbated by the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Today, while levels of external radiation are slowly diminishing , large areas remain off limits, agriculture and forestry continue in contaminated areas, as poverty forces many people to produce and consume contaminated food.

The main victims of the Chernobyl catastrophe however, are 3.5 million children, who live in poverty, sickness and fear for their future. Because the effects of radiation are cumulative, many children are affected by chronic health problems and have seriously damaged immune systems. There have been rises in many types of cancer, hearth diseases, respiratory and digestive problems; Belarusian doctors have indicated that ninety per cent of children in the country have some health problems; in some areas of the country there is a 250% increase in children born with deformities and 100% increase of cases of cancer and leukemia. In southern Belarus thyroid cancer in children has increased by 10,000% and one in every four children suffers from thyroid abnormalities.

Many children are still living in the most contaminated, rural areas of the country, sometimes just a few miles from Chernobyl's nuclear plant. Even if they have yet to show any symptoms, the prospects for their future health are bleak, if they continue to live in such a radioactive environment.

In the summer, when the dust causes radiation levels to raise, it is important for as many children to leave the contaminated farmland in the country for a few weeks of fresh air and clean food. Many Belarusian doctors have confirmed that a break in a healthy environment, away from contaminated food, boosts the children's immune system, helping them to resist or to recover from serious illness as well as lifting their spirits.

Since the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986, many charitable organizations from all over the world have contributed in helping countries that have been directly affected by the explosion: Russia, Ukraine and especially Belarus. In this last country, international help has been concentrated especially in the areas that were closest to the Ukrainian border and to the nuclear power station, particularly the Gomel-Oblast region situated to the south-east of Belarus. But it now appears that in Belarus there are very few areas that are not contaminated by radiation and very few people who are not still exposed, on a daily basis, to its terrible, sometimes fatal effects.

For this reason we have chosen to focus our current projects in areas that, although relatively far from the most affected areas in the south-east of Belarus, are officially considered contaminated by the Belarus National Radiation Institute and by independent international observers.

What has impressed us most on visits to these areas, is the warmth of the people who are attempting to live normal lives despite their circumstances. After all, radiation is invisible. Although, superficially, their situation sometimes seems unexceptional, the levels of radiation in their environment mean they are, in fact, constantly under threat, and will be so for years. Those whose lives are most at risk are the young and vulnerable. We would like to be able to help them.