OREANDA-NEWS. April 28, 2009. The material damage of the Chernobyl catastrophe in Belarus is comparable to losses incurred during the Great Patriotic War, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said as he visited the town of Komarin, Bragin region.
The head of state said that the Nazi destroyed 619 Belarusian villages while the Chernobyl disaster bereft the country of 485 settlements. Due to the Chernobyl disaster 42% of the Bragin region settlements were abandoned, with the number of residents down by 40%.

Alexander Lukashenko remarked that Belarus bore the brunt of the Chernobyl catastrophe: 70% of the radioactive fallout took place in Belarusian lands, with vast areas of forest and farmland no longer used. The polluted area encompassed 3,600 communities where one fifth of the country’s population used to live. The President thanked the people who have endured all the hardships of the man-caused catastrophe.

Overcoming consequences of the disaster required huge material and human resources. Within the first few months after the tragedy 115,000 Belarusian liquidators, 5 chemical and civil defence regiments were used. Since then Belarus has spent USD 20 billion on these purposes.

Efforts aimed at minimising consequences of the Chernobyl disaster are exercised in line with special state programmes, said the President. Special attention was paid to installing gas services in the Polesie territory. Thanks to the fulfilment of these and other programmes measures for medical examination and rehabilitation of people, road construction, provision of pure water, prevention of radionuclides transfer into food have been accomplished.