Chernobyl - 24 years on

Cant believe its 24 years... i was still in school when this tragedy happened and remember many people saying that Chernobyl would be lifeless for hundreds of years...

Anyway great collection of pictures here...

www.independent.co.uk...

Maybe a little glimpse at what a post apocalyptic world would look like...

One thing to add... although it is undeniable that there has been massive health problems to the local population, including birth defects and cancer increases, it has also taken a far shorter period of time for nature to reclaim Chernobyl than first predicted... Many birds and small mammals have populated Chernobyl making it a small wildlife reserve...

As humans were evacuated from the area 20 years ago, animals moved in. Existing populations multiplied and species not seen for decades, such as the lynx and eagle owl, began to return.

There are even tantalising footprints of a bear, an animal that has not trodden this part of Ukraine for centuries.

From...

news.bbc.co.uk...

Amazing how quick nature can adapt if given a chance.

You should watch this movie!



I tell you, their furs are big and shiney and all the animals look very fit.

reply to post by Muckster


hi there,

many thanks for posting this , i once saw a blog by a biker in the Ukraine that had gone all around the area on her motorbike, it was a great insight into the wilderness that most of the place had become, unfort i no longer have the url to her site.

i too find it quite encourging that nature can take over and clean up.

once again many thanks for posting this.

snoopyuk

the first picture is from that level in call of duty 4.

www.youtube.com... look at 54sec i recognise the surroundings.
If that was already known that lets move on.

[edit on 27-5-2010 by MrOrange82]

Hi there, awesome thread topic..

Even though it happened 3 years before I was born, Chernobyl's always held a massive fascination for me..

I'd love to explore Pripyat, it looks so peaceful, yet eerie, it's incredible how quicky the land is taking that area back..

Some pictures here.. Cue the obligatory abandoned doll..
Lost City

Also, if you can get hold of this book, it's just phenomenal.
Here

reply to post by FunnyLittleFrog


Hi FunnyLittleFrog...

First let me say... Cool name, cool avatar and even cooler location (Camden)
For 20 years i lived just off Essex road, so know Camden like the back of my hand

Thanks for a great link... just had a quick look and it seems fascinating

MrOrange82

Yeah i noticed the COD4 shot


snoopyuk

No problem... thanks for the kind words... If you ever rediscover that site, be sure to mention it here


sandri_90

I will definitely check out the movie once i have some free time... thanks

reply to post by FunnyLittleFrog


Once again great link m8... look at this...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/77feb441412a.jpg[/atsimg]

What a great picture... the forest retakes the city... wow... that is one picture that does speak a thousand words!

The Guy's n Girls who made S.T.A.L.K.E.R got it spot on

sorry lines

reply to post by Muckster


Yeah, strangely beautiful isn't it? It would be amazing to see what it'll look like in 50 or even 100 years.. Seeing as that's the result of only about a quarter of a century.

I've been reading about how local rivers, especially the dniepr are stil contaminated, how Chernobyl isn't just a thing of the past, how it's still very much a part of the present..
Then not to mention the afflicted, and the children of the afflicted.. It's a very sad topic.

reply to post by FunnyLittleFrog


A very sad topic indeed... and no doubt many people have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of this disaster.

However, i find something very... er... not sure of the right words here... interesting, haunting, eerie, beautiful, wondrous (mixture of all of them words) about nature taking over and reclaiming...

Like the documentary "Life after people" fascinating stuff...

Does that make me odd??

Originally posted by Muckster

Does that make me odd??

Yes.
- about as odd as the rest of us.

You have a wide vision, seeing events in the context of their histories and their possible futures.

This doesn't in anyway diminish your understanding of the seriousness of an event, or your sympathy with people affected.

Ok in the 2nd picture. Is that a cat? Baby Goat? Dog? Chupacabra?
On the roof. Really and is it alive?

Does anybody from the time remember anything happen in the uk on that day?

I dont really want to say exactly what it is , it is not really anything massive just something wierd (or not in the circumstances) that happenend to me on the way past the GPO...clue...

What is also quite scary is the amount of scrap that has disapeared from the scrapyards over the last 8 years or so , compare arial photographs of the scrapyard to the west of pripyat along the rail line .scrap dealers , corruption , or ......artifact hunters...


compare the early photos of the helis in the scrapyard to the later ones ,,,from intact to vitually nothing tleft ,,big market in mil jet turbines and rotors it seems but these are all radioactive supposedly protected ,and very large , these arent a few hundred radiators from a towr block
, they have been removed with care...
[edit on 27-5-2010 by gambon]

englishrussia.com...

compare those pics with the latest embeded gogle earth embedded pics

[edit on 27-5-2010 by gambon]

The sited you wanted is the one below I believe.

Motorcycle tour thru Chernobyl

Oops Marrs already posted it.

[edit on 5/27/10 by makeitso]

I've always wondered how many fugitives and mentally ill people with nowhere else to go inhabit the dead zone.
As if it wasn't already creepy enough. Trying to put myself in those pictures, the buildings and etc, no sound, no people..what a trip eh?

Bachrk

Yeah i spotted that... i think its a dead lamb

gambon

I dont really want to say exactly what it is , it is not really anything massive just something wierd (or not in the circumstances) that happenend to me on the way past the GPO...clue...

Im intrigued... do tell...

Marrr

Excellent site... thanks Marr

I've always wondered how many fugitives and mentally ill people with nowhere else to go inhabit the dead zone.
As if it wasn't already creepy enough. Trying to put myself in those pictures, the buildings and etc, no sound, no people..what a trip eh?

I havent heard any "official" reports about people living in the dead zone... however, still a creepy thought!

reply to post by Muckster


On Elena's site, there's a photo of a middle aged man asleep on the side of a road in the dead zone.
Personally, I think it'd be a choice place to hide...as long as you were packing a geiger counter or two.

Originally posted by Pockets
The Guy's n Girls who made S.T.A.L.K.E.R got it spot on

sorry lines

Exactly what i was thinking, they did a great job. I had already heard about life beginning to flourish again though, it seems scientists always get a big surprise about their predictions. There was an area of coast in the uk devastated by big trawlers that became protected, it started to heal and flourish decades earlier than what the scientists predicted.

The best thing is, the plants and some animals in and around the area are actually adapting to suit this environment.

Chernobyl Plants Adapting

Chernobyl soya produced significantly different amounts of several dozen proteins, the team found. Among those are proteins that contribute to the production of seeds, as well as proteins involved in defending cells from heavy metal and radiation damage. "One protein is known to actually protect human blood from radiation,"

I know it is a tragic event, however now it has happened we might as well continue to use this opportunity to see how plants make themself resistant. Maybe so in the future a simple injection at birth could also give humans immunity to such radiation.

As mentioned before in the documentary "life after people", I also believe this is what our towns and cities should be like. Yes we can have concrete jungles, but at least fill in all the gaps with wildlife and trees. Not just the occasional park.