Desolation

It was 1:23 a.m. on April 26 1986 when the explosion took place. A sleepy town of about 50,000 inhabitants lived there. The majority of them asleep in their beds. The explosion could be felt 3km away in the city of Pripyat. People would be woken up by the noise and the tremor that could be felt.

Seeing the colours dancing in the midnight sky would have people pouring out of their homes to investigate. It looked like just a fire at the nuclear plant. But, people at Chernobyl knew different when they investigated. It was an explosion in Reactor 4 which resulted in radiation entering the night sky, travelling towards the town of Pripyat.

Eventually these residents were evacuated 36 hours after the explosion to safety.

I remember this day so well when it came to light. I remember thinking that I was going to die in a rainstorm because of radiation that had been carried over to Scotland. I remember farmers going into a blind panic about their livestock and Chernobyl was the discussion.

What struck me the most about seeing the pictures in the news was the Ferris wheel. Apparently they were going to open up the park 5 days later in May at the start of their holiday. That Ferris Wheel has never been used. However, I also remember a play park. Where children had once played without a care in the world. It just got me thinking about the anguish and the suffering that many people faced.