Map of Belarus from Encyclopedia Britannica 1998

 
The Republic of Belarus (Belarus) is located in the Eastern part of Europe. In the West it borders on Poland, in the North - West - Lithuania, in the North - Latvia, in the North - East and East - Russia, in the South - Ukraine. Belarus is divided into six regions (oblast): Brest oblast, Vitebsk oblast, Gomel oblast, Grodno oblast, Minsk oblast and Mogilev oblast. The capital of Belarus is the city of Minsk, which is the biggest political, economic, scientific and cultural centre of the country. The population of Minsk is 1.729 million people.
 
 
National flag of Belarus
 
 
 
The six regions of Belarus
 
 
 
BELARUS FACTS IN AFTERMATH OF CHERNOBYL
EXPLOSION ON 26TH APRIL 1986
 

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.