Project Detail: Starting Over- From the Donbass to Chernobyl

Contest:

Reportage and Documentary 2019



Brand:

LuganoPhotoDays



Author:

Ilir Tsouko

 

Project Info

Starting Over- From the Donbass to Chernobyl

As a result of the war in Eastern Ukraine, over a million displaced people are looking for a new home. Some are drawn to a place that has so far stood for destruction and annihilation, danger and desolation. About a new beginning around Chernobyl.

Some 1.5 million internally displaced persons have fled from eastern Ukraine to other parts of the country since the outbreak of war five years ago. The war has taken away not only their homes and jobs, but also their future. The little money they receive from the state is hard enough to survive. And so they are on their own. In need, some of them are drawn to a place that was itself the scene of a catastrophe: the villages around the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Secluded and economically dependent, they promise them a chance to start all over again.

Two catastrophes, two fates: those who remained, who lost everything then and now lead a shadowy existence. The newcomers, who are left on their own when they start afresh. People with the same story that brings together. Although they are among the victims of the two greatest disasters Ukraine has experienced since its inception, they are now among the weakest. It is almost a bit cynical that they should live together.

The villages where Alexeij and Roma start again after the war are among those over which the wind carried the radioactive cloud in the days after the disaster. This is where the fields, schools, and roads are, where the rain falls, making the region uneconomical to this day. This was a difficult fate for the people, who at that time lived almost exclusively on agriculture. At that time, the zones were set up to protect the inhabitants, but now they have become a burden. This is what it says in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency. More than 30 years after its release, radiation is still really dangerous for very few people. However, the restrictions on economic activity that have accompanied the creation of the zones are still preventing the development of the region. In this way, the public efforts made in response to the accident have become the seed of later problems.

Photos