Chernobyl: 100 Seconds to Midnight

The evacuation of Chernobyl happened quickly, once the Soviet government acknowledged the gravity of the disaster. Images of Chernobyl today reveal how life was just abandoned. Residents were told that they would be allowed to return in just a fewdays. So many things were left behind. 

Though the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) - the 30 kilometers around plant - remains largely uninhabited and has been deemed unsafe for humans for some 20,000 years, the earth has begun to heal itself. Animal is life is teeming; the CEZ has become the third largest nature preserve in mainland Europe. Though animals in the area do have mutations like some sort of post-apocalyptic petting zoo, they also reveal the resiliency of life. Additionally, 130-150 people known as self-settlers – most elderly – have returned to live within the CEZ. 

The CEZ also became a tourism site with average 100,000 visitors yearly, prior to the invasion of Ubraine by Russia. In February 2022, Russians invading troops briefly occupied the plant, kicking up ground radiation and prompting fears of another nuclear disaster, especially when the soldiers cut electricity to the plant.