The Abandoned City of the Chernobyl Disaster | Pripyat, Ukraine
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Pripyat, Ukraine – once home to 50,000 people was swiftly abandoned immediately after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 (Wiki).
For the past 22 years the city has been totally uninhabited with the exception of a few (about 300 or so) elderly people who returned to their homes in surrounding villages.
Today Pripyat remains an empty and dreary desert of concrete, wild animals, and rampant flora. There are plants busting through pavement to reach the sky and wild horses roam free through vast open fields…untouched for 22 years by manking, perhaps for the better.
These are some photos I pulled together from various sources around the interwebs – enjoy!
Photo of the control board at Chernobyl…before the disaster
(May be from Reactor 3…but not Reactor 4)
Pripyat before the disaster…it was a well-planned city – you can see the Pripyat pool in the backdrop:
Look at this amazing photo of the Pripyat city center…after the nuclear disaster:
The abandoned Pripyat Ferris Wheel:
Children were affected physically and mentally by this tragedy…so many of them got Thyroid Cancer from simply drinking milk that originated from cows that ate contaminated grass…Here are some children drawings that depict the disaster:
Another child’s depiction
Decontamination Team
Even better prepared
A Child After Radiotherapy
Relics of the Soviet Era…still remain — as nobody was left to even care to take them down.
Toys are strewn about all over… Items were scattered around by looters in the event’s aftermath.
Rogue art has been drawn inside the Pripyat pool…that use to stand in city center.
Life still thrives in Pripyat…twenty-two years later (Chernobyl happened in 1986)…wildlife like these Mongolian horses roam the open fields…and continue to breed
More wild horses.
After evacuation about 300 elderly people returned to Pripyat’s surrounding villages – to continue living their lives, however lonely, in their old homes. This lady went back to live near her son’s grave…he was a ‘liquidator’ – one of the people that went back to help clean up the disaster.
Pripyat cultural palace…COMPLETELY Abandoned
Pripyat Central Square — You can see that the woods have come into the city – most of the vegetation pictured is new…and only started growing after the disaster.
The above Images and Information Sourced from these websites :
- Chernoblyee.com – Mark Resnicoff’s well-documented visit to Chernobyl
- A series of photos on English Russia
- Wikipedia page on Pripjat, Ukraine
- Facts about Chernobyl
- Pripyat.nu – Photo Resource
- Chernoybl Diary @ IAEA.org
- 26-04-1986 / A movie and photography website about the event
- fotomat.cz / Photos of Chernobyl aftermath
- Subterranea Brittanica site on Chernobyl
abandoned cities include pripyat ukraine of the chernobyl nuclear disaster
10 Responses to 'The Abandoned City of the Chernobyl Disaster | Pripyat, Ukraine'
The photo of the control room may be from Reactor 3, not from Reactor 4. These control rooms were exact duplicates of each other.
Also, Pripyat’s residents did not move back to their old homes. No one has lived in the city since the evacuation. There are approximately 300 elderly people (samosels) who moved back to their homes in some of the surrounding villages.
The evacuation was fast, but most, if not all the items scattered around the buildings were strewn about about looters, who hit the city hard.
I personally visited the Chernobyl area for two days in June 2006 with a friend and former resident of Pripyat. We toured the Chernobyl Plant (including the Reactor 4 control room), several of the abandoned villages, and Pripyat. I have posted a photo journal of my trip at:
My Journey to Chernobyl: 20 Years After the Disaster
Mark
17 Dec 08 at 1:09 pm
[...] con cancer, ni?os en horfanatos por deformaciones geneticas por la contaminaci?n radioactiva… The Abandoned City of the Chernoybl Disaster: Pripyat, Ukraine | machete | the blog Adem?s, es interesante ver como poco a poco una ciudad rebosante de gente poco a poco es devuelta [...]
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25 Dec 08 at 11:06 pm
[...] I’ve added a snippet here for you. This film was effectively banned for almost 20 years after its production due to the British government deeming it to disturbing for general consumption. And it is very real and disturbing but I feel we should see this type of thing from time to time to remind ourselves of the consequences of nuclear disaster, be it willful use of weapons, or simply an accident such as Chernobyl which left an abandoned city. [...]
Perezed Hilton » “The War Game” - Directed By Peter Watkins - 1965
31 Dec 08 at 10:22 pm
[...] away and never came back again, leaving behind everything that they had. That reminded me of other abandoned cities, for example the city of Pripyat, in Ukraine, after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Pripyat used to [...]
The Fascination of Abandoned Cities
7 Jan 09 at 5:14 am
this is awesome
malcolm
24 Feb 09 at 5:00 pm
Hi, I also like Mark have visited the area twice in the last year, we got permission to visit some areas that are not normally on tours, such as reactors 5 and 6 and Yanov railway station, you can see my write up and photos here :
http://firesuite.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=58
Graham
8 Jul 09 at 12:01 pm
[...] Young parents in front of the Pripyat public pool in 1984: Image via machete [...]
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20 Aug 09 at 3:16 pm
[...] Young parents in front of the Pripyat public pool in 1984: Image via machete [...]
Chernobyl 1984-2009: Then and Now « about everything
21 Aug 09 at 3:05 pm
cool pics
Dicaprio
23 Feb 10 at 11:27 am
cool pics
Delcastillo
23 Feb 10 at 10:23 pm