As of today, April 26 | RadioVera.gr

Anniversaries

April 26 has been established as the International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day, by a decision of the UN General Assembly, taken on December 8, 2016.

Chernobyl Disaster refers to the gigantic nuclear accident that occurred on April 26, 1986 in the then Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Soviet Union), when reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was completely destroyed by an explosion caused by a sudden increase in his power. The explosion led to radioactive contamination of large parts of the then Soviet Union (Ukraine, Belarus, Russia), exposing more than 8 million people to radioactive radiation.

The communist regime hid the consequences of the nuclear disaster for four years (while the reformer Mikhail Gorbachev was in power) and only in 1990 reluctantly acknowledged the need for international aid to mitigate the consequences of the disaster. In 1990, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for international cooperation in dealing with the consequences of the Chernobyl accident and in 1991 it established a fund (Chernobyl Trust Fund) to coordinate aid.

Since 2002, the UN’s Chernobyl strategy has changed and focused on initiatives for the long-term development of the region rather than emergency humanitarian aid. In 2009, the International Chernobyl Research and Information Network (ICRIN), established by the UN, began to provide support to programs aimed at the sustainable development of the affected areas.

On December 8, 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating April 26 as the International Day of Remembrance for the Chernobyl Disaster, in order to raise global public awareness of the consequences of the accident and recall efforts to eliminate them. The relevant resolution recognizes that three decades after the nuclear disaster, serious long-term consequences remain and that affected areas face ongoing needs.

The Chernobyl Disaster in numbers

2 days for the world to know everything about the explosion.
It took 13 days to completely extinguish the fire at the nuclear plant.
3,000 years must pass for the area to be considered habitable again.
600,000 people participating in the firefighting and cleanup operations were exposed to high doses of radiation.
8,400,000 people in areas of the former Soviet Union (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus) were exposed to radioactive radiation.
520 dangerous radionuclides were released into the atmosphere by the chemical explosion.
31 people died on the spot from the explosion in reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
155,000 sq km of land in areas of the former Soviet Union were contaminated.
52,000 sq km of agricultural land were contaminated with cesium-137 and strontium-90, with half-lives of 30 years and 28 years respectively.
404,000 people settled in other areas.
5,000,000 people continued to live in the contaminated areas.
20,000 cases of thyroid cancer were recorded from 1991 to 2015 among people who were under the age of 18 in 1986 and living in the affected areas of the former Soviet Union.

When we refer to Intellectual Property we mean both intellectual property (artists’ rights over their work) and industrial property (inventors’ rights over creations, i.e. patents).

World Intellectual Property Day is celebrated every year on April 26, the date the World Intellectual Property Organization was established in 1970, which protects the above rights around the world.

The aim of World Intellectual Property Day is to inform the public about the role and importance of intellectual property in everyday life and to highlight the contribution of artists and inventors to the development of societies around the world.

An American-inspired world day, which soon took on international dimensions and is now celebrated in more than 100 countries. Its goal is to mobilize children and young people from 5 to 25 years old, who offer social work every day through volunteering.

It was established in 1988 by Youth Service America (YSA) and is celebrated on one of the Good Friday weekends in April (April 26-28, 2024).

In Greece, the organization of the International Day of Voluntary Service has been undertaken by the m.k.o. Helix.

Facts

1822

The first tax law of the revolutionary Greeks comes into force, with the imposition of the tithe on fruits.
1825

Ibrahim with 11,000 footmen and 800 horsemen dominates Sphakteria, which was defended by only 1,500 Greeks. The Minister of Military Affairs, Anagnostis Papageorgiou (Anagnostaras) and the Philhellenic Santaroza, along with 350 other Greeks, fall fighting.
1877

Hermes of Praxiteles is discovered in Olympia by German archaeologists.
1926

PAOK is officially founded, with the approval of its statutes by the Thessaloniki Court of First Instance.
1930

At the proposal of the new Minister of Education, Georgios Papandreou, the law establishing a National Theater in Athens is passed. Miltiadis Lidorikis is appointed as the first director.
1986

Nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, Soviet Union (Ukraine), the worst nuclear accident in human history.

Births

Deaths

1825

Santore di Santarosa, Italian Philhellenic and fighter of the Greek Revolution. (Born 18/11/1783)
1861

Jakob Philip Falmereyer, Austrian traveller, journalist, politician and historian, best known for his travel narratives and his theories about the racial origins of the Neo-Greeks. (Born 10/12/1790)
1938

Edmund Husserl, German philosopher, introducer of the current of phenomenology. (Born 8/4/1859)