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Timely, preventive response to disaster risk requires effective early warning systems that are technically sound, politically viable and communally acceptable. To curb increasing disaster risks and climate change impacts, as highlighted in this year’s World Disasters Report, it is high time to unite and to take concrete concerted actions, for securing human life and livelihoods and protecting socio-economic gains and opportunities.

The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel. The resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere and downwind. Two Chernobyl plant workers died on the night of the accident, and a further 28 people died within a few weeks as a result of acute radiation poisoning. The April 1986 disaster at the Chernobyla nuclear power plant in the Ukraine was the product of a flawed Soviet reactor design coupled with serious mistakes made by the plant operatorsb.  It was a direct consequence of Cold War isolation and the resulting lack of any safety culture.

In a humanitarian crisis, relief agencies need rapid answers to questions about 'where'. Where are the greatest needs? Where are the gaps that need to be filled?MapAction works in disaster zones providing frequently updated situation maps showing where relief help is most urgently needed.

Causes of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident:The precise causes of the accident are still uncertain, but it is generally believed that the series of incidents that led to the explosion, fire and nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl was caused by a combination of reactor design flaws and operator error.Loss of Life from the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident:By mid-2005, fewer than 60 deaths could be linked directly to Chernobyl—mostly workers who were exposed to massive radiation during the accident or children who developed thyroid cancer. Estimates of the eventual death toll from Chernobyl vary widely. A 2005 report by the Chernobyl Forum—eight U.N. organizations—estimated the accident eventually would cause about 4,000 deaths. Greenpeace places the figure at 93,000 deaths, based on information from the Belarus National Academy of Sciences. Physical Health Effects Linked to the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident:The Belarus National Academy of Sciences estimates 270,000 people in the region around the accident site will develop cancer as a result of Chernobyl radiation and that 93,000 of those cases are likely to be fatal. Another report by the Center for Independent Environmental Assessment of the Russian Academy of Sciences found a dramatic increase in mortality since 1990—60,000 deaths in Russia and an estimated 140,000 deaths in Ukraine and Belarus—probably due to Chernobyl radiation.