1988 Chernobyl and Pripyat cleanup documentary (original English voiceover)

[Music] [Music] Maria Parham [Music] [Music] straight after the accident there were 180,000 volunteers of course we couldn't take everybody well firstly we needed specialists professionals with a degree of experience in this matter there were many who wanted to be here simply to help without any concern about their safety maybe we still have this within us this feeling that if there is a catastrophe everyone will pitch in know what your leash like taking with you let's take my case why did I come here I saw this as a war in which it was my duty to participate there is another sighted I wanted to test myself and yes I wanted to actually experience these events I wonder if you remember turned off skis words if the war has started war you gather with the 15,000 volunteers worked here and the army all of them for the radiation with their bare hands but I think such an effort is only possible in this country of course no other nation are the standards when the chief adviser the French nuclear industry came here he unofficially said if something like this had happened in France and everybody would have taken their bags and run off I believed him all the womanisers are scared of coming here and we know what the French are like but I couldn't say that the Russian men are known for their abstinence in this zone our men say that even 1000 units of radioactivity will not destroy their manliness [Music] [Music] yesterday the Bulldog Sam first six months after the accident was a special time suddenly there was a different relationship between the people here and their attitude to work was completely different it could become a true example for our society as a whole nobody here was indifferent unfortunately now it has all changed although on the surface everything is the same there's a different type of person here they're beginning to calculate how to work less and receive more but why has everything changed so much via mobile Kappa Lucia - Elliot oh I suppose because last summer we were successful in halting the main source of the radiation that calmed everybody down the idea that it is still highly dangerous to be here that idea has vanished the time for Heroes is over today's volunteers are drawn here by the wages by the fact that they are 3 or 5 times as high as normal they also get a special document stating that they have worked here it's now a question of prestige the Soviet Union you can say that you have worked in Chernobyl our propaganda machine is partly at fault in this because it continually emphasized that only real men work here but the real heroes are no longer with us most were forced to go as they had already received the maximum permissible dose of radiation even though these valuable icons are radioactive there are still those who do not fear to collect them many of the surrounding villages are losing their heritage see even radioactivity doesn't stop people taking these things for instance this silver jug has two and a half thousand rads of beta radiation the icons as we say are also unclean so it seems that they stole an icon instead of bringing happiness and contentment yes it's terrible that such a holy item will bring death it won't happen immediately but over time it's the children that will suffer we can only guess what kind of icons that have been in this vicinity look what fine what would you just in this frame only a week ago there was a picture in this frame they don't take the frames there are thieves among the workers during the night they break into the empty homes they see what's there and then when the shifts change which happens every 15 days they're away with the stolen goods aren't you scared of touching these things I wash my hands every time above all I wanted to show you the most valuable piece I've named it the Madonna of Chernobyl I found it lying in the mud somebody must have dropped it in the rush I feel that she is a symbol of the fate of these people and these colors dark red and jet-black somehow were already ominous [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] they've caught up with me what's going to happen now aren't you worried that the waters radioactive tell me who put it there have you been done since the autumn they so last year no I've been here since last autumn and you've been drinking this water all the time pops here nobody does anything those generals they just sit here collect their huge wages and continue to cordon off this 30 kilometer area they take the best houses but we can take a run and jump but the television showed that you were given proper housing outside the danger zone it's full of tricksters even the newspapers are full of facts about what we who have suffered or supposed to have received if I could get hold of garbage off I'd give him a caning knows the dog well off he visits but he doesn't set a foot here where we are suffering do you think that I would try and run away from a good life on my way back I spent two weeks in the forest with my power in two there was nothing to eat or drink but I had to return but how did you get into this zone didn't anybody stop you like partisans we the old are made to suffer they didn't give us proper homes and we can't really live here imagine what I have had to experience in my old age the fields here have been plowed with our hands the house is built with our bare hands we fought the war but still I have to walk and beg oh dear I think that already I have said too much they'll come and arrest me what are you waiting for the bus is surely done right anymore we're waiting for them to bring the bread oh no have you been waiting this is the fifth day but they've promised it for today what are they doing checking the radiation again no they're taking photos aren't you scared of death surely there's still radiation here no we're not scared of death it won't take us so easily we were evacuated but there was also radiation on the other side of Kyiv there was radiation in Bella Russia there the people remained it's not like a stone on which you can trip but here there was a cloud it came and went on the air is clear again today it's the rage to blame the radiation when you cough it's the fault of radiation if you have a headache or an upset stomach what do you blame radiation of course America keeps on repeating because there was some bad cloud the soil is going to be harmful our local leadership still doesn't want us to go into the fields what do we care about America or anybody else thinks America doesn't send us any potatoes so we plant our potatoes and we eat them because we still have to survive we are used to surviving we survived the famine after the war so we'll survive this - some didn't leave at all but to people who never left they haven't died they're living as they have always lived [Music] [Laughter] was for the gospel did I walk [Music] [Music]

Channel: John Bee

Views: 432,164

Keywords: Pripyat, chernobyl, soviet union, Chernobyl liquidators, liquidators, 1986, 1988, chernobyl documentary, chernobyl disaster, chernobyl evacuation, chernobyl footage, chernobyl real footage, pripyat ghost town, pripyat 1986, pripyat evacuation, pripyat 1988, pripyat real footage

Id: qtjfWs9Yc7Y

Length: 18min 14sec (1094 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 26 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/ScienticianAF]

That's a lot of Lada's.

[u/ElectricNed]

Cool stuff

[u/Januar1]

I still do not like how they go out of their way to be overly dramatic about every single piece of content. Every Chernobyl video has creepy music and things like "Radiation levels were still 100 times higher than normal". That sounds scary to the general population without context, but poses absolutely no danger in reality.

[u/lilone727]

I've never seen that before, thank you for sharing!

[u/Xemein]

Very nice!

[u/twitch_delta_blues]

Thanks

[u/Wizard-In-Disguise]

The sirens touting the same message over and over again for days like in 1:05 seems just so surreal, YOU WAKE UP, NOBODY IS AROUND, and the only thing you hear is that message...

[u/Longjumping_Eye3718]

Ok so hold up. At the 5:19 mark, is that THE BLOWN UP REACTOR?! And if so, how did they not vomit their livers immediately?

[u/eukaryote3]

“The real heroes are already gone” by 1988 got me for some reason. Yes, the vast majority of those from 1986 had already been used up. Also, the old lady criticizing Gorbachev was great.