Why is pripyat a ghost town

Prypiat is now a ghost town, having fallen victim to the worst nuclear power accident in history. It was evacuated after a reactor exploded at the Chernobyl plant twenty-seven years ago, on April 26, , sending a cloud of radioactive dust up into the air.

Before: Pedestrians walk down the street in Prypiat in , four years before the Chernobyl disaster. After: The area stands abandoned 25 years after the nuclear reactor explosion. Before: People bustle through Prypiat in The island was known for its undersea coal mines established in the late 19th century and grew to peak 5, inhabitants by However, after the mines were nearly depleted by all the residents departed Hashima.

Once a small but very rich diamond mining village, Kolmanskop was abandoned in mids. Since then the desert partially reclaimed the area, filling many buildings with sand. The town founded in the eighth century was completely abandoned after following a string of natural disasters, including landslides, flooding and an earthquake.

Located within the Arctic Circle on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, Pyramiden was a Soviet coal-mining town between and Once promoted as a model socialist city, its well-preserved empty buildings now serve as a tourist destination. Up to 10, people lived in Bodie in , which used to be a bustling gold-mining town.

Because the plant was run by authorities in Moscow, the government of Ukraine did not receive prompt information on the accident. To speed up the evacuation, residents were told to bring only what was necessary, and that they would remain evacuated for not more than three days. As a result, most personal belongings were left behind, and remain there today. From until the city of Slavutych was constructed to replace Pripyat. In fact it was built intentionally for the evacuated personnel of the Power Plant.

Today, this is the second-largest city for accommodating power plant workers and scientists in the Russian Commonwealth. I visited the exclusion zone in and It was only months later that we realised nothing would ever be the same again. Our son was born there and everyone misses it. All we have are memories. It was mentally tough to go back, very painful, so we stopped going.

At the time we were young, we were alive and nothing was a problem. We were told it was safe. But we cannot go back, so we have to look forward. Next door to the Syomins, Sergei Matolievich Shedrakov, 59, and his wife Alexandra Ivanovna, 60, recall being evacuated from Pripyat with their two children — daughter Katya, then aged five, and son Pavel, aged 16 months.

As the Russian saying goes, there are no good things without bad things. Lydia Petrovna Malesheva, 77, recalls the excitement generated by the news in the autumn of that Slavutych was to be built.

We could hardly believe it. Those who had worked at the Chernobyl plant after the accident, like my late husband, were given a choice of apartments or little houses. We chose a house. I miss Pripyat very much. Pripyat, built in , was hailed as a triumph of Soviet urban planning: the austere concrete style favoured by USSR architects tempered by colourful murals and Communist slogans exhorting residents to study, work or remember the revolution. Its hospital and clinics were fully equipped, the Palace of Culture housed a theatre, and there were sports halls and an Olympic-sized swimming pool too.

At the time of the accident, residents were excited about the impending May Day inauguration of an amusement park with a Ferris wheel, swingboats and brightly coloured dodgems. Today, Pripyat is a ghost city.

The Ferris wheel that never turned has become an enduring symbol of the disaster.