On the 26th of April 1986, Chernobyl was the scene of the world’s worst nuclear disaster when an explosion at a newly built nuclear power plant unleashed 200 times more radioactivity than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs. 70% of the radiation fell onto the population of Belarus, affecting seven million people.
700,000 men, known as liquidators, risked their lives and exposed themselves to dangerous levels of radiation to contain the situation, at least 40,000 of these men have died and a further 70,000 are disabled. Twenty percent of these deaths were suicides.
Every year thousands of children in Ukraine are born with genetic heart diseases and defects.
Only half of the affected children will receive the surgeries that they need to survive;
the rest will die within three to five years.
The Chernobyl explosion was the biggest nuclear catastrophe of the 20th century. Radioactive wastes with half–lives lasting tens of thousands of years continue to poison the environment and affect genetics of the people who must live within it.
I have visited Chernobyl 3 times to photograph the exclusion zone. These visits have truly hammered home the plight of the people caught up in this horrendous accident. This is why I support the Chernobyl International charity that helps some of these thousands of children to live a better life.
700,000 men, known as liquidators, risked their lives and exposed themselves to dangerous levels of radiation to contain the situation, at least 40,000 of these men have died and a further 70,000 are disabled. Twenty percent of these deaths were suicides.
Every year thousands of children in Ukraine are born with genetic heart diseases and defects.
Only half of the affected children will receive the surgeries that they need to survive;
the rest will die within three to five years.
The Chernobyl explosion was the biggest nuclear catastrophe of the 20th century. Radioactive wastes with half–lives lasting tens of thousands of years continue to poison the environment and affect genetics of the people who must live within it.
I have visited Chernobyl 3 times to photograph the exclusion zone. These visits have truly hammered home the plight of the people caught up in this horrendous accident. This is why I support the Chernobyl International charity that helps some of these thousands of children to live a better life.
