Graffiti
adorns a wall April 4 in the ghost city of Pripyat near the fourth
nuclear reactor (background) at the former Chernobyl Nuclear power
plant, site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. (Sergei
Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)
On
April 26, 1986, reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear power
facility in what is now Ukraine exploded. The largest civil nuclear
disaster in history led to mass evacuations, and long-term health,
agricultural, and economic distress. The nearby city of Pripyat has
been abandoned, and a 19-mile radius "exclusion zone" established where
radiation contamination makes continued habitation dangerous.
Collected here are archival pictures of the catastrophe, as well as more
recent images of the area. In addition, two photographers who've made
extensive studies of the aftermath have been gracious enough to share
their work with us here. Diana Markosian documented the lives of
pensioners Lida and Mikhail Masanovitz, who continue to live in the
abandoned ghost town of Redkovka, Ukraine. Her work is found here in
photographs 13 through 16. Michael Forster Rothbart has produced one of
the most extensive records available of life near Chernobyl. His work
is found here in photographs 23 through 29. Links to the websites of
both photographers can be found below. -- Lane Turner (34 photos total)
