People gather around an angel that stands atop a stone plinth in the northern Ukrainian town of Chernobyl every April 25 as night falls.
The angel’s entire body is made of steel, mainly rebar, and it holds a long trumpet to its lips. The third angel from the Book of Revelation is depicted in this sculpture. When the trumpet rang, a great star fell from heaven, the waters turned sour, and many died, according to the Bible. A massive concrete slab in the form of the Ukrainian section of the exclusion zone stands at the foot of the angel statue. It glows orange during the memorial ceremony, thanks to the light of several tiny lanterns. A long row of signposts extends across a tree-lined boulevard away from the angel. Each of the more than 100 posts bears the name of a Ukrainian village that was evacuated.
Despite mass evacuations following the disaster, the surrounding region was never fully depopulated, and it never could be. A nuclear disaster of this nature is far too dangerous to be ignored. More than 7,000 people live and work in and around the plant today, and despite the dangers, a much smaller number have returned to the local villages.
On the night of the anniversary, a combination of locals, workers, and a few out-of-town visitors gather to remember an incident so complicated and with so many long-term consequences that it’s still difficult to comprehend 35 years later. The air is thick with emotion as they listen to songs and poetry performed by some of the survivors. There is a sense of community, even a sense of home, even here, so close to the epicenter of the worst nuclear power plant accident in history.
Though the key pattern of radioactive fallout was formed shortly after the accident, which is blotchy and unpredictable, radioactive particles are still on the move to this day, moving on the wind and flowing through the water.
Text by: Ankita Dutta, IBTN9
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