Ghosts in a purple land: on the tenth anniversary of the nuclear accident, Olivia Ward travels into the contaminated zone around Chernobyl

As his blackened feet disappeared into the tumbledown wooden cottage I glanced at my map. The tiny village of Bartolomeyeka, 170 kilometres north of Chernobyl, was clearly marked. It was outlined in brilliant purple, as were all the surrounding areas deep inside the Contaminated Zone created ten yea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:New internationalist 1996-04 (278), p.3-3
Main Author: Ward, Olivia
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Accidents
Nuclear energy
Nuclear power plants
Ukraine
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:As his blackened feet disappeared into the tumbledown wooden cottage I glanced at my map. The tiny village of Bartolomeyeka, 170 kilometres north of Chernobyl, was clearly marked. It was outlined in brilliant purple, as were all the surrounding areas deep inside the Contaminated Zone created ten years ago by the invisible death rays of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. In the garden behind the house her husband was beckoning shyly. 'We have no proper clothes,' said Anyuta Popkov, jerking her head toward her husband's tattered and buttonless trousers, 'because officially we don't exist.' A bitter tide of history moved for them. Belarus, which bore the brunt of the Chernobyl fallout, was swept into post - communist collapse. With almost no outside aid, the Government struggled with massive new healthcare costs. In the face of such panoramic problems, two stubborn peasant farmers escaped attention.
ISSN:0305-9529