Z alissya is one of the many abandoned villages within the disaster area. It was the first village within the exclusion zone to be forcefully evacuated in early May of 1986. However, the 3200 inhabitants were slow to depart as they were initially unaware of the unfolding disaster just 25km away. Unaware due to the fact that the Soviet Command kept the power plant accident a secret.
Today, homes have been swallowed by the trees and vegetation. Belongings are littered around some of the homes, left on the promise of a return, a promise with the sole purpose to mislead, a return that would never happen. Older cottages are destroyed by fallen trees, others are being slowly engulfed by the onward march of the forest. The main road was once a wide bustling street, but is now a forest path. The houses and public buildings are now barely visible, not even in the winter.
The Unsettled Return
Every now and then you discover a fresh coat of paint on what looks like an abandoned building. Or a neatly tended garden or a facade not covered in thick ivy. That is a sign of people still living here. As many as 4,000 people have migrated back into the contaminated zone over the last 35 years, in pursuit of a life more promising than the existence as a displaced, disenfranchised, and stigmatised persona non grata in a remote settlement.
