A Drone's Eye View of Chernobyl

Chernobyl

Twenty-seven years ago, the Soviet Union's version of Fukushima took place at Chernobyl. The disaster created an "exclusion zone" in which human habitation is forbidden. Recently, a drone was used to video footage of the land on which radioactivity imposed a death sentence. The footage was posted in the Italian website corriere.it, the website for Italy's leading newspaper, Corriere della Sera.

I once taught a man who directed the effort to extinguish Chernobyl's nuclear fire. He suffered from radiation sickness, but he never doubted his actions during the disaster. I was proud to be his teacher. When I watched the drone's footage earlier tonight, I thought about a brave man whose life touched me, and saved the lives of thousands.

And so, on Thanksgiving Day, I want to thank the many who put their lives on the line for others.

PS. Shortly after Thanksgiving Day, the online version of the BBC posted an article about wildlife returning to the Chernobyl contaminated zone. The fascinating story is linked here.