Video of the Week – Postcards from Pripyat, Chernobyl

By Dan Hutton on December 4, 2014 in Video

Postcards from Pripyat, Chernobyl from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.

Earlier this year, Danny Cooke had the opportunity to visit Chernobyl whilst working for CBS News on a ’60 Minutes’ episode which aired on November 23. Bob Simon was the correspondent, and Michael Gavshon and David Levine the producers.

Chernobyl is one of the most interesting and dangerous places on the planet. The nuclear disaster, which happened in 1986, had an effect on so many people, including Cooke’s when they lived in Italy. The nuclear dust clouds swept westward towards them. The Italian police went round and threw away all the local produce and his mother rushed out to purchase as much tinned milk as possible to feed him, her infant son.

It caused so much distress hundreds of miles away, so it’s hard to imagine how terrifying it would have been for the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens who were forced to evacuate.

According to Cooke, “During my stay, I met so many amazing people, one of whom was my guide Yevgen, also known as a ‘Stalker’. We spent the week together exploring Chernobyl and the nearby abandoned city of Pripyat. There was something serene, yet highly disturbing about this place. Time has stood still and there are memories of past happenings floating around us. Armed with a camera and a dosimeter geiger counter I explored…”