Minutes silence called for Chernobyl Childrens project

The Irish-based Chernobyl Childrens Project is asking people to observe a minutes silence at 11am.

It is 15 years to the day since the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded, affecting the lives of nine million people.

More than 13,000 people have died as a result of the disaster.

25% of Belarus, the home of Chernobyl, is wasteland as a result of the worst ever environmental disaster, 15 years ago.

The land will remain barren and untouchable for thousands of years as a result of the Chernobyl accident.

Nine million people in Belarus, Ukraine and Western Russia were directly affected by the Chernobyl explosion.

Babies are still being born with abnormalities, there are elevated cancer rates and there is a high suicide rate among communities worst affected.

Altough the nuclear reactor has been shut down, radioactivity is still stored in part of the plant.