Cork event set to mark 38 years since Chernobyl nuclear disaster 

THE war in Ukraine and the anniversary of the worst nuclear disaster in history will be remembered at a Cork gathering at midday today.

The deputy Lord Mayor of Cork, councillor Colette Finn, will preside over a gathering in Fitzgerald Park to mark the 38th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

The commemorative event, which is organised every year by Cork charity The Greater Chernobyl Cause, will be attended this year by Ukrainian ambassador Larysa Gerasko.

Also in attendance will be councillors, representatives of the emergency services, students, and members of Cork’s Ukrainian community.

Exploded

At 1.21am on the morning of Saturday, April 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant near Pripyat in Ukraine, the No 4 reactor exploded, releasing radiation 30 to 40 times the amount released by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The after-effects of the disaster are being felt to this day.

At midday on Friday, pupils from Goggin’s Hill National School will gather in Fitzgerald Park to sing the Ukrainian national anthem, in solidarity with Ukrainian children displaced from their homes when Russia began its full-scale invasion two years ago.

'New horrors' 

Fiona Corcoran, founder of The Greater Chernobyl Cause, said the charity had uncovered “new horrors” which have occurred during the war and have been inflicted upon survivors of the disaster.

“[Nowhere] more so than in the village of Prybirsk, close to the exclusion zone, where 30 residents, many of them still suffering from radiation sickness, were trapped for weeks by Russian soldiers inside their so-called nursing home without proper food, water, or heating,” said Ms Corcoran.

“As the war in Ukraine rages on, the Russians may have moved elsewhere, but have left total devastation in their wake.

“Prybirsk lies in the Ivankiv region, which was totally disconnected from the water supply and electricity. Two villages were completely wiped off the face of the Earth by numerous airstrikes and the area’s hospital staff describe their everyday work as ‘the victory of life over death’.” Ms Corcoran recently revisited the area and said she had been “shocked to the core” at the devastation there.

She said her charity, The Greater Chernobyl Cause, continues to play a leading role in the supply of humanitarian aid right across Ukraine, adding that “the empathy and love of the Irish is clearly evident as we stand with Ukraine in their time of need”.