the chernobyl disaster – one of the biggest nuclear accidents in history – took place 21 years ago (+3 days, because i’m a little late).
i was 15 months old at that time, and my parents still clearly remember the incident (and how little information the public – as in “everybody except the russian government” – received).
wikipedia (who else?) has lots of facts: [en] [de]
looking around for more information, i found the website of filatova elena vladimirovna, who has made impressive photo-reportages of the locked-down area, the latest one in spring 2007! elena also shares some interesting thoughts – her site is definitely worth visiting.