Publication Laka-library:
Chernobyl - a continuing catastrophe (2000)
| Author | OCHA |
| Date | 2000 |
| Classification | 2.34.8.10/60 (CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT - CONSEQUENCES SURROUNDINGS - GENERAL) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
FOREWORD "Chernobyl" is a word we would all like to erase from our memory. It recalls an event-the explosion of a nuclear reactor-which happened in April 1986, opening a Pandora's box of invisible enemies and nameless anxieties in people's minds, but which most of us probably now think of as safely relegated to the past. Yet there are two compelling reasons why this tragedy must not be forgotten. First, if we forget Chernobyl we increase the risk of more such technological and environmental disasters in the future. Alas, errors of this kind cannot be remedied. But their recurrence can be prevented. Secondly, more than seven million of our fellow human beings do not have the luxury of forgetting. They are still suffering, every day, as a result of what happened fourteen years ago. Indeed, the legacy of Chernobyl will be with us, and with our descendants, for generations to come. This booklet illustrates the health, economic, environmental, psychological and social effects of the catastrophe, and the heroic but desperate efforts at rehabilitation made by local communities. It depicts a gloomy situation where the victims often feel unwanted, without the means to recover and sustain themselves. In 1997 the United Nations launched a Chernobyl humanitarian programme. Unhappily, funding for this programme has fallen far short of what is needed. The original list of 60 projects has had to be shortened to only nine, selected as the absolute priorities for funding through the United Nations Appeal for International Cooperation on Chernobyl. These nine projects could, if implemented, make a vital difference to the lives of many people. Indeed they may fairly be described as the minimum the international community should do, not only for the victims of Chernobyl themselves but also to ensure that future generations throughout the world can learn some lessons, and reap some benefits, from their ordeal.
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