. 24/7 Space News .
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
30 years on, Russia's Chernobyl victims say they have been abandoned
By Ana�s LLOBET
Starye Bobovichi, Russia (AFP) April 20, 2016


Novozybkov, long considered to have been contaminated by Chernobyl, will in July officially have the status of an "inhabitable" place.

Russian pensioner Anna Venderenko says her village wrestles daily with the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, dreading the moment when a lifeline provided by the government in Moscow is slashed.

The 70-year-old lives in Starye Bobovichi, 180 kilometres (110 miles) northeast of the stricken nuclear plant in neighbouring Ukraine.

On the night of April 26, 1986, a blast blew apart Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor, spewing out a plume of radioactive gas and debris that, borne by the wind, contaminated homes and fields far away -- including Venderenko's village.

Now, as with hundreds of other villages and towns in the surrounding Bryansk region, local residents still battling with the disaster's deadly legacy are facing an official ruling that will see much-needed support slashed.

"We have been abandoned," Vendarenko said. "There are no more doctors or hospitals. And soon there will be no more medication."

In the wake of the disaster, Vendarenko's village was officially classified as being inside a "forbidden zone" but those living there refused to pack up and leave.

Now 30 years on, a presidential decree has officially ruled the radiation levels in the village have fallen, meaning that state funds which subsidise medical treatment and sanatorium stays for children will be cut from July.

But experts and locals insist that radiation levels in Bryansk region have only slightly dipped since 1986 and the health situation remains dire.

"This is more than 30 times the recommended level of radiation," Greenpeace expert Rashid Alimov said during a recent press tour organised by the group, pointing a radiation dosimeter in Starye Bobovichi's main square.

Of some 4,413 Russian towns and villages affected by Chernobyl, 383 will see their support cut later this year and 558 will lose it entirely.

"With this decree the authorities refuse to recognise that it takes 2,000 years -- not 30 -- for an area to be decontaminated," said Anton Korsakov, a local biologist.

He says that child mortality in the region remains five times higher than the national average and 80 percent of the children born in the area develop chronic diseases.

- 'Bad news' -

The corridors of a hospital in the nearby town Novozybkov are packed with children and elderly people waiting to be seen by one of the few doctors.

In 1986 the town's 30,000 inhabitants were not evacuated and surgeon Viktor Khanayev says that one third of the hospital's patients seek treatment for diseases and malformations caused or exacerbated by radiation.

"Many people can't get treated," he said. "Subsidised medication no longer works on them and they are forced to turn to expensive drugs."

Novozybkov, long considered to have been contaminated by Chernobyl, will in July officially have the status of an "inhabitable" place.

"This is bad news," Khanayev said. "People will now be forced to pay for medication that used to be free. And the kids will no longer be sent to sanatoriums in the summer."

One of Khanayev's patients, Alexander, said that leaving the town would help assuage his many health problems but that he does not have the necessary funds or assistance to relocate.

"When I am in another region, I feel fine," said Alexander, who is in his thirties. "But here, I feel the radiation every day."

While living in a contaminated area is inevitably harmful, authorities can help limit the effects of radiation through awareness campaigns, said Lyudmila Komorgotseva, who heads a local NGO promoting radiation safety.

But authorities haven't done enough to get important messages through to the population, she claimed.

"The government doesn't do anything and people pick berries and mushrooms in contaminated forests," Komorgotseva said.

In 2011 Russia stopped radiation testing for some food products and drinks, and many radioactive products from the Bryansk region have made their way to supermarkets across the country, according to Greenpeace.

Lumber companies are also exploiting contaminated forests, said lawyer Alexander Govorovsky, who has filed a complaint against the regional forestry department over a practice he says can be harmful for consumers.

"People eat and drink irradiated products," he said. "Because of authorities' inaction, people are living with radiation in their homes."


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Chernobyl zone turns into testbed for Nature's rebound
Chernobyl, Ukraine (AFP) April 19, 2016
What happens when the site of the world's worst nuclear accident is left all but abandoned for nearly 30 years? In the case of Chernobyl, it becomes a unique chance to see how wildlife recovers in what is a giant nature reserve, bereft of humans but tainted by radiation. "When the people left, nature returned," Denys Vyshnevskiy, a biologist in Chernobyl's so-called exclusion zone, told ... read more


DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Supernova iron found on the moon

Russia to shift all Lunar launches to Vostochny Cosmodrome

Lunar lava tubes could help pave way for human colony

The Moon thought to play a major role in maintaining Earth's magnetic field

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Russia, Italy plan first bid to explore beneath mars surface in 2018

First light for ExoMars

First joint EU-Russian ExoMars mission to reach Mars orbit Oct 16

Help keep heat on Mars Express through data mining

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Concept's success buoys Commercial Crew's path to flight

New, fast solar wind propulsion system is aim of NASA, UAH study

China, India pave the way to BRICS cooperation in space

Living in a bubble: inflatable modules could be the future of space habitats

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
China begins testing Tiangong-2 space lab

Lessons learned from Tiangong 1

China launches SJ-10 retrievable space science probe

Has Tiangong 1 gone rogue

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
NASA to test first expandable habitat on ISS

Dragon and Cygnus To Meet For First Time In Space

Russian cargo ship docks successfully with space station

Russia launches cargo ship to space station

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Orbital ATK awarded major sounding rocket contract by NASA

SpaceX lands rocket on ocean platform for first time

SpaceX cargo arrives at crowded space station

Orbital ATK receives NASA order for rockets

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Stars strip away atmospheres of nearby super-Earths

1917 astronomical plate has first-ever evidence of exoplanetary system

Cooked planets shrink due to radiation

More accurately measuring distances between planetary nebulae and Earth

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Chinese scientists succeed in micro-g 3D printing test

Topology explains queer electrical current boost in non-magnetic metal

Researchers discover liquid spiral vortex

Elusive state of superconducting matter discovered after 50 years









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.