Chernobyl Aid Fund Totals $811 Million
Donations to a relief fund for Chernobyl victims have grown to $811 million, a Soviet newspaper reported Sunday, the first anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear accident.
The fund has been used to build houses, buy clothes and provide other benefits for accident victims, the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported.
Donations to the Chernobyl victims fund were received by the Soviet state bank from individuals and enterprises all over the country, according to D.A. Rogolin, a fund official quoted in Komsomolskaya Pravda.
An explosion and fire April 26, 1986, at Chernobyl, in the Soviet Ukraine, spewed radiation into the atmosphere. Thirty-one people died as a result of the accident, and about 135,000 were evacuated from an 18-mile area around the plant.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
