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On Monday 25 July 05, Coleraine Yacht Club hosted an activity day for the North West Chernobyl Children’s Appeal. The group was made up of 17 Children, all who have been affected by the terrible 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster.
The day consisted of sailing, power boating, face painting, games and a lunch time BBQ of burgers, hot dogs and chips prepared by our chef, Rab.
After a damp start to the day, the children were treated to a cruise on the River Bann on ‘Lobana’, a Sealine Motor Yacht ‘owned by Ken and Pat Storey. Others opted for the more leisurely option onboard the sailboat ‘Gannet’ skippered by Club Member Joe Slater.
With improvement in the weather, a touch of colour was added to the occasion by face painters, Lauraine, Annie and June who created numerous works of art on the faces of the children and staff.
I would like to thank our usual Club backstage helpers for giving up thir time to make the day both enjoyable and memorable for the children. Without their help, the Club would be unable to host such events. Stevie, Lauraine, Andrew, Annie, June, Pearcy, Densil, Andy, Mervyn, Rab, Joe, Pat, Ken, Jessica, Rebecca and Emma.
If you are interested in the work of the Chernobyl Children’s Appeal, you can follow the links at the bottom of this page.
BELARUS FACTS IN AFTERMATH OF CHERNOBYL
EXPLOSION ON 26TH APRIL 1986
Taken from the Chernobyl Children’s Appeal website
The early-morning explosion of Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear plant on April 26, 1986 is still a grim fact of life for the people who live in contaminated regions of Belarus, the Ukraine and Russia.
The small country of Belarus, just 10 km north of the Chernobyl power plant received over 70 per cent of the radioactive fallout due to wind and weather patterns.
- · Area evacuated in Belarus: 20% of country.
- · Complete exclusion zone: 1,700 square Kilometers.
- · Persons evacuated and resettled within Belarus: 130,000.
- · Numbers of persons affected: 2.2 million, out of a total population of 10.3 million.
- · Children were more seriously affected than adults.
- · Over 18,000 km2 of agricultural land (22%) received some fallout. Of this, 2,640 km2 totally removed from agricultural production.
- · Radioactive Iodine fallout fell over 80% of Belarus.
- · 10% of milk contaminated with excessive levels of radioactive Cesium 137.
- · Thyroid cancer is normally extremely rare among children. The worldwide average is I to 2 cases per million children. In some areas of Belarus, the rate is 125 cases per million children and is still increasing.
- · First evacuation from exclusion zone, 30 km from Chernobyl: May 2,1986
- · Belarus received most of the radioactive fallout (70%) from Chernobyl.
- · It is estimated that 3.5 to 10% of the reactor core escaped into the atmosphere, releasing about 50 million curies. As a measure of comparison, the total radiation scattered by all nuclear bomb tests to date amounts to less than 0.5 million curies.
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