One of the questions last night at quizzo was, “The city of Pripyat is a ghost town because of something that happened in the 1980s. What was it?” Pretty easy question. The answer was Chernobyl. But while everyone knows the word “Chernobyl”, not everyone knows Pripyat. It was quite a bustling city, with 50,000 residents at the time of its evacuation (about the size of Harrisburg). There were schools, restaurants, cafes, playgrounds, a bus system, and even a ferris wheel (above). Of course, the accident didn’t just destroy the cities of Chernobyl (pop. 14,000) and Pripyat, but numerous nearby cities and towns. Ultimately about 350,000 people were evacuated (That would be the equivalent of evacuating Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.) And while it makes for an interesting trivia question, it is important to be reminded that all of those people had a story. Here is an excellent short film, called The Door, that reminds us of that. It is also worth noting that there is still a lot of controversy about what long-term effects the radiation had on first responders (known as liquidators), and how much money they should get from the government. Sound familiar?
Here are some incredible photos taken of Pripyat in 2006 by photog Tom Bossi. Well worth a look. Extremely creepy. Speaking of creepy, check out this video of Pripyat before, during, and after the disaster.