“Chernobyl Disaster” is considered one of the deadliest artificial tragedies of all time in terms of worldly losses and biological casualties, which took place due to an accident in the no.4 nuclear reactor of the Chernobyl power plant situated in Ukraine back in 1986.
Though it caused only 31 deaths due to the explosion, the radiation released caused a mutation in humans, animals, and plants around it, an area of 2600 km2 was contaminated with harmful radioactive substances. Scholars point out that at least 400 times more radiation was released during the Chernobyl disaster than by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki together.
Now the situation is different, and Chernobyl has now become a tourist attraction.
Many people are interested in finding more about the Chernobyl disaster and visiting after being inspired by HBOs’ mini-series “Chernobyl.”
An English travel vlogger named Benjamin Rich recently decided to visit the Chernobyl exclusion zone to get to know about the lives of people who live there at the moment.
The exclusion zone in this sense is the area of land within a 30km radius around the Chernobyl power plant, which exploded 36 years ago.
Still, the exclusion zone is dangerous, but radiation levels have decreased, making it a safe place for humans to visit, but no one certifies that living there is safe.
Once he was dropped near the exclusion zone by a local tour guide, he started to dig deeper into the lives of people living in the exclusion zone.
On his visit, he was able to see nothing. Still, he abandoned houses in a decaying state and wastelands where their soil is poisoned by the radioactive substances released during the explosion.
While investigating those abandoned houses, he kept a knife with him to protect himself from wild animals that might be living there.
On his way, he met an inhabitant of the exclusion zone named Igor. Benjamin offered Igor a drink, and soon after that, Igor invited Benjamin to his household.
After visiting his house, Benjamin realized that Igor lives with his mother, who is 92 years old.
Although the authorities have asked people not to reside in the exclusive zone, most reside there illegally.
Soon Benjamin got to know that Igor’s mother was born back in 1927, and she has been living there throughout her life.
Also, she is a mother of 10 sons, 3 of them had passed away, and the rest were living elsewhere.
Igor explained to Benjamin how Government officials used to visit them to measure the radiation levels and check whether the residents were eligible for extra pay given to the inhabitants due to the hazardous nature of the environment.
Even though people were residing, most of the houses there were abandoned, and many gravesites could be seen. So it’s better to prevent this kind of unnatural disaster from taking place in the future.
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