As the Soviet Union was in its economic free fall, a portentous disaster occurred that horrified the world and truly showed how desperate a situation the Communist country found themselves in. Equal to that of Pompeii, the Yangtze floods, or any other disaster known to the history of humankind, Chernobyl is still recognized as the biggest manmade disaster of all time.
In the early morning hours of April 26, 1986 the nuclear reactor near the town of Pripyat, Ukraine suddenly exploded. It wasn't until 40 hours later that the residents of the town were told to evacuate, and over that time many of them were exposed to harmful levels of radiation poisoning.
The town itself has remained abandoned over the years, but some people are brave enough to risk exploring the old soviet city. Since the people of the city were forced to evacuate with so little warning, many of them just dropped what they did and fled. That's why so many of the buildings appear stuck in time, as if the people just disappeared before the trees began their silent assault to retake what was rightfully theirs.
The man in this video takes us on a chilling tour of what a post-apocalyptic world would truly look like. The silence is deafening as he sojourns from abandoned building to abandoned building as if he were a ghost himself. This stunning video really puts things into perspective on how fleeting humanity's stamp on the Earth really is. In a mere 30 years the trees have retaken much of the land, imagine how it will look in 100.
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