 |
|
|
Medicines Donated Online |
|
By Environment News Service
KIEV, Ukraine, - A unique website, Chernobyl Charity Online was launched in Kiev, Ukraine prior to today's 14th anniversary of Chernobyl nuclear explosion - the largest ever radiation accident involving a nuclear reactor.
By clicking on the links, website visitors can donate medicines to be paid for by sponsors to Ukrainian Chernobyl hospitals. The website project has been developed by a team of young Ukrainians aiming to create a charitable act for Chernobyl victims while using a wide range of online technologies and know-how.
"Chernobyl.com.ua introduces an absolutely new for Ukraine and the whole CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] concept of electronic charity, or "click charity," Denis Oleinikov, Chernobyl.com.ua founder, said today. The explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor near Kiev on April 26, 1986 has killed 15,000 members of the clean-up teams, while another 30,000 people have become disabled during the 14 year aftermath, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Shoigu said in Moscow today. Addressing a memorial ceremony at a Moscow cemetery, Shoigu said that the government is doing its best to ensure safety at nuclear power plants and prevent such tragedies from happening again. The heavy radioactive contamination that spread over large areas of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine exposed what new United Nations figures now show are seven million people to ionizing radiation caused by fallout of radioactive nuclides. This has led so far to a large increase in thyroid cancer among children in affected areas. A report on the effects of Chernobyl released by the United Nations this week, forecast even worse health problems ahead for more than seven million people affected by the accident.
In an effort to medicines to Chernobyl victims, Chernobyl Charity Online uses the new Internet pattern of website visitor donations made with the click of a mouse. The donations are paid for by sponsors, not by the visitors. Anybody in the world can contribute to donating medicines for Ukrainian Chernobyl hospitals by just clicking on the links from Chernobyl Charity Online. The site also has a unique Chernobyl photo gallery and online charity shops, where U.S. residents can buy electronics, books, and toys. There are links to environmental news of the world including daily Environment News Service reports. At present, the site is fully in English, but there are plans to introduce multilingual options. During the testing period, a total of over 2,000 charity donations have been made from over 15 countries, enough to buy medicine for rural Chernobyl hospitals in Ukraine worth US$250. "We plan to attract three to four thousand visitors every day in two to three months, which would enable us to buy medicine worth over US$7,000," said Oleinikov. One hundred percent of commissions received from the site's sponsors, will go directly to charity, Oleinikov said. |
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan acknowledged in a foreword to the report that the exact number of victims may never be known, but that three million children need treatment and "many will die prematurely."
© 1997-2000 BEI