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An icon hangs among the ruins of one of the few remaining structures at the site of the raized village of Navilovka on April 4, 2016 near Chachersk, Belarus. Navilovka was among hundreds of villages in Belarus demolished by authorities and the residents evacuated following radiation contamination from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. Chachersk, located in south-eastern Belarus, is in a zone designated as still contaminated to varying degrees with Chernobyl radiation, especially caesium-137. Numerous areas nearby are off-limits to visitors and signs on the edges of forests warn of radiation and urge people not to pick berries and mushrooms. While the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Radiation (UNSCEAR) claims that Chernobyl radiation in the region no longer poses a significant health risk, local physicians and researchers say the ongoing threat is still very real and that a dramatically high rate of children are born with weak immune systems and heart rhythm disorders. According to the Belarus government it currently spends 5% of its annual budget dealing with the consequences of Chernobyl and 20% of arable land in Belarus remains too contaminated for use. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
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