On the Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day, officials came with messages to commemorate the victims of the disaster and to render homage to those who are yet alive, IPN reports.

President Maia Sandu said that over 3,500 persons became involved in 1986 to save human lives and the environment. Only half of them are now alive. “In my name and in the name of the whole country, I express my gratitude and respect for the sacrifice and heroism of those days owing to which hundreds of thousands of lives were saved from the danger of radioactive contamination. The radioactive cloud from Chernobyl covered a large part of the European continent. Pollution does not stop at the borders. That’s why closer cooperation between the countries of the world is needed so as to strengthen nuclear security and to work out policies to avoid such disasters,” says the President’s message.

Acting Prime Minister Aureliu Ciocoi said the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster is the seventh largest international nuclear event that led to the mobilization of over 3,500 compatriots who went to clean the contaminated territory outfitted with rudimentary protection equipment and to build a sarcophagus around the damaged reactor. “This tragedy didn’t know borders and, as the representatives of the Government, society, we are responsible for the participants who sacrificed their lives when dealing with the consequences of this accident, for the members of your families who daily help you to overcome physical and moral pain. Only 1,900 citizens of our country who took part in the Chernobyl cleanup are now alive,” said Aureliu Ciocoi, noting the executive will maintain the augmentation of the monthly state allowance intended for the Chernobyl cleanup participants and the provision of free health insurance to them on its agenda.

Attending the commemoration event, Parliament Speaker Zinaida Grechanyi said that almost each member of the Chernobyl Association of Moldova has a disability degree. “We realize their problems and try to offer them solutions so that they and their families can lead a decent and honorable lifestyle. Parliament made a number of changes to the legal framework so as to strengthen the social protection of the participants in the Chernobyl cleanup. At the end of 2020, the allowance for persons with disabilities suffered as a result of this accident was increased. Last week, there was approved a bill to increase the given allowance to 80% of the minimum old-age pension. We know that this is not enough as for half of the 3,500 compatriots these measures are late, but we commit ourselves to continue to make effort so as to offer the heroes who remained alive what they fully deserve,” noted the official.

Earlier, during the ceremony to lay flowers to the monument to Ruler Stephan the Great, the head of the Chernobyl Association Tudor Căpăţînă approved of the municipality’s intention to lay out a square in memory of the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster (on Trandafirilor St). “This catastrophe changed mankind. We, those who took part in the alleviation of the accident’s consequences, divided the time into before and after the accident. After Chernobyl, we acquired a series of new diseases and other illnesses that worsted as a result of radiation. We sincerely thank all those who took part in the salvation of human lives,” said Tudor Căpăţînă, noting that owing to the pandemic, not all those affected who remained alive could attend the event.