Chernobyl survivor fears war will end her plans to meet newly-found family

A SURVIVOR of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, who was abandoned in an orphanage before being adopted in Co. Meath has described her fears of another European wide catastrophe caused by the Russian invasion which would also end her plans to visit her newly-found family.

Raisa Carolan revealed her huge concerns after reports of higher than usual gamma radiation levels detected in the area near the decommissioned nuclear plant, taken over by Russian forces.

Ukraine's nuclear energy regulatory agency attributed the rise on Friday to a 'disturbance of the topsoil due to the movement of a large amount of heavy military equipment through the exclusion zone and the release of contaminated radioactive dust into the air.

The 29 year old Ambassador for the Chernobyl Children's International has experienced first hand the horror of nuclear effects and dreads the thought of radiation being unleashed on a large scale on the world again.

Raisa has undergone 25 operations to treat the many physical deformities she was born with as a result of the radiation from the disaster.

These included a cleft palate and eventual limb amputation because of being born with webbed legs and a club foot.

The determined young woman who now has a Masters in Criminology started life in No. 3 Orphanage in Minsk where she was left in her cot alone for days and whipped with belt buckles and nettles.

However she now calls herself a 'Meath woman' after being adopted by Tom and the late Ann Carolan in Trim where she has lived since she was ten-years-old.

In the last year, the employee of social media giant TikTok has tracked down her birth family after a search of many years and has been in regular contact with them in Belarus by email since January

The Russian invasion means that she is worried for their safety and any dreams of meeting them soon may now be scuppered.

"I am very fearful of the consequences if the reactor is activated again or sealed radiation is emitted on a large scale over the region, and indeed into wider European territories. The results could be catastrophic," she said.

"There are also a lot of people buried in the exclusion zone who gave their lives in order to close down the reactor and save others and this invasion is trespassing on that exclusion zone and disturbing those graves.

"In the last year I have found my family, my mother and father and brother, all of whom are still living in Belarus.

"I have been emailing my brother regularly and I had hoped that I would meet them soon but I don't think that is now going to happen for a long time and I fear for their safety as no one can guess how this conflict will play out.

"I've already been through a Chernobyl nuclear disaster as a child and I've seen the devastation it has caused to both the physical and mental health of children who have been left with defects and disregarded and abused in orphanages.

"I don't ever want to see another Chernobyl and hope from the bottom of my heart that this will not be the case."