Springtime in Chernobyl – 2007

This road is in the dead zone around Chernobyl. The sign is barely readable after 21 years, but the radiation still remains.

Elena Filatova, motorcyclist and photographer, is still visiting Chernobyl and writing about it. Her latest photo essay is titled Spring 2007.

Her haunting photos and evocative words raise questions that we still do not have answers for 21 years after the disaster. Elena wants to make sure that Chernobyl is not forgotten.

In her own words:

Chernobyl is so easily forgotten because it was only known to ourselves. In a first years after the accident we didn’t want to share our story with the world, now we can not share it, we hardly remember it ourselves. All that remains of the tragic tale is a memory, weak and disfigured by time…

Elsewhere she writes:

Translations of Chernobyl website in French, Portuguese, Dutch, Czech and Serbo-Croatian languages goes well, Italian and German do not catch up and Finnish and Spanish is very slow. This work is for volunteers. If someone want to translate or revise couple of pages, please contact me, e-mail is elena@elenafilatova.com

The 21st anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster will occur on April 26th. Will we be any wiser by the 30th or 40th anniversary?

I would hope so, but according to Elena, the UN cover-up continues and the need for more energy has politicians glossing over the omissions of the past.

If you would like to read my earlier articles about Elena and Chernobyl, here is a complete set:  http://www.making-ripples.com/chernobyl/index.html