An annual republican conference to commemorate Chernobyl liquidators (participants in Chernobyl clean-up operation) took place in Tajikistan on April 26.

This year, the conference took place in the administrative center of the Fayzobod district.  Representatives of Chernobyl liquidators from all regions of the country, representatives of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection as well as ambassadors of Belarus, Ukraine and Japan to Tajikistan participated in the conference.

In all, 5,000 residents of Tajikistan participated in the Chernobyl clean-up operation from 1986 to 1990.  Besides, 1,000 young men from Tajikistan who were serving in the army that time participated in mitigation of effects of that tragedy.     

Meanwhile, only 1,865 Tajik participants in the Chernobyl clean-up operation are estimated to be still alive; 1,457 of them are disabled people.  561 others died from effects of radiation exposure in the age range of 28 to 57.

265 families of Chernobyl liquidators have been left without a breadwinner.  

800 children of Tajik participants in the Chernobyl cleanup operation suffer from different disabilities 

Liquidators were the civil and military personnel who were called upon to deal with consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union on the site of the event. The liquidators are widely credited with limiting both the immediate and long-term damage from the disaster.

Liquidators are qualified for significant social benefits due to their veteran status. Many liquidators were praised as heroes by the Soviet government and the press, while some struggled for years to have their participation officially recognized.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 240,000 recovery workers were called upon in 1986 and 1987 alone.  Altogether, special certificates were reportedly issued for 600,000 people recognizing them as liquidators.