(April 26, 1991) Reports on the numbers of Soviet residents failing victim to the Chernobyl accident have been coming out of the USSR despite efforts by the government to withhold and cover up data.
(351.3483) WISE Amsterdam - The number of people who have already died as a direct result of the accident is a particularly controversial issue for the government, which still insists that only 31 people were killed. However, through painstaking methods such as gathering personal accounts from workers who had been at Chernobyl, victim support groups are slowly uncovering data closer to the real facts. According to Ukrainian physicists Vladimir Chernousenko, groups using such methods to compile what he calls the "black book" now put the number of deaths among the 650.000 people involved in the clean up at more than 7.000. Chernousenko, a theoretical physicist and a senior official in the Ukrainian academy of Sciences, released information compiled in the "black book" at a press conference in London on 18 February. He also added that the book's data shows that nearly 80 percent of the more than 5,000 workers who were most heavily exposed to radiation after the accident have already died from radiation-induced injuries.
The Chernobyl Union, an organization which channels humanitarian aid to the victims and which is the largest organization in the USSR dealing with the Chernobyl aftermath, has been collecting data as well. According to their records, about five million people in the USSR suffered from the disaster. Approximately 40% are living in Byelorussia, 30% in the Ukraine, and another 30% in the Russian republic.
However, because many of the cleanup workers were soldiers, their numbers are not limited to these three republics but come from all over the Soviet Union. In addition, Ukrainian MP Volodymyr Shovkoshytny, head of the union, says that their figures do not include the population of Kiev, Zhitomer and some other Ukrainian cities which should also be considered disaster zones. Although official statistics claim the radiation passed round these cities and went on, it is now clear that that wasn't the case.
Another report, from Chairman of the Chernobyl Committee of Estonia Peter Grimm, says that by August 1990 twenty Estonian citizens had died as a result of radiation exposure from the Chernobyl accident. In addition, Grimm said, 14 people are disabled and more than 300 are registered as having various radiation-induced diseases. These figures are for Estonia alone. The Chernobyl Committee is an organization made up of soldiers who were forced to clean up the area surrounding the accident site. The Chernobyl Union has set aside 201,000 rubles to help their families.
Sources:
- The Independent (UK), 19 apr. 1991
- News from Ukraine (USSR), No.7, 1991
- Ogonyok (USSR), No.32, 1990.
Contact: Contact: Peter Grimm, c/o Ain Pajumäe, Suur-Laagri 16-8, Tallinn 200 004, Estonia, USSR, tel: 532 972.