The Aftermath of Chernobyl

According to CBSnews, seven million people are still dealing with the effects of Chernobyl. The events that took place in Chernobyl happened approximately 28 years ago, yet people are still dealing with the physical and psychological damage. For those who possibly do not know, the Chernobyl incident happened on April 26, 1986, during the era of the former Soviet Union, when one of the four nuclear power reactors at Chernobyl had exploded, causing around 100 radioactive elements to be leaked out. The radiation levels of the area surrounding the explosion became 77,000 times higher than normal and 40 times higher than the permissible maximum. Some studies found the death rate would be around 200,000 for the countries of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia alone, along with up to 6 million deaths worldwide from the Chernobyl meltdown. Now, while what happened at Chernobyl was a tragedy, there have been rumors of many animal species repopulating in the formerly human populated areas. Of course, with all rumors, there are multiple versions. One of the variations is that the massive amounts of radiation have mutated the animals. I personally find myself not able to believe this, as people can take tours of the facility and walk away fine, but I cannot say for sure whether it is true or not, as I have not been to Chernobyl to see these "beasts" for myself to determine if they are normal or not. No matter what is at Chernobyl, what happened about 28 years ago is a tragedy and all those who have been, and still are, affected by the incident deserve all the support they can get.