On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor near the Ukrainian city of Pripyat exploded, spewing huge clouds of radioactive material into the air. Because long-term exposure to radiation can have serious health effects, the authorities evacuated everyone within about 20 miles of the reactor site.
The evacuation produced a kind of time capsule of late Soviet life. Videographer Danny Cooke used a drone to capture footage of what all those evacuated buildings look like today, and assembled them into this haunting video:
Cooke was working on a CBS News story that ran in late 2014. The story points out that the Chernobyl disaster never really ended: The reactor is still smoldering, and the sarcophagus the Soviets built over the reactor site in the 1980s is showing signs of age. The international community is currently spending billions of dollars to construct a more permanent enclosure for the site to ensure that it doesn't spew still more radiation into the surrounding area.
