20 Truly Chilling Images of the Aftermath of Chernobyl

Even in France, radioactivity levels were a threat—checks on passersby and crops were frequent.

Gas masks were necessary just to operate—here, a man gathers a sample to test radioactivity from the Chernobyl site.

One of the Chernobyl engineers undergoes tests in the weeks following the incident.

A soviet man who was present during the explosion at Reactor #4 receives treatment.

The exterior of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant following the explosion of Reactor #4.

A few months later—August 1986—this is what the external of the Plant looked like.

The 'Elephants Foot' of Chernobyl. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, a few minutes near this spot would have killed a person. Now, the radiation has decayed, though it's still very radioactive and dangerous.

Protesters here take the streets of Kiev following the Chernobyl disaster. They were displeased with the Government's handling of the situation. Craig Mazin, the creator of HBO's Chernobyl, and Jared Harris, the star of that same series, both likened the political ignorance of that time to the same thing happening today.

The man in the middle's sign translates to:
"Hiroshima, 1945, Cherobyl, 1986, Moukatchevo ?"Moukatchevo is a city in southern Ukraine.

The same young Russian girl walks around during her prosthetic leg fitting.

The same girl hugs a duck following her leg fitting.

Gas masks seen on the floor of an abandoned school.

This photo, taken in 2003, shows an abandoned bumper cart ride in Pripyat, the town of nearly 50,000 that was evacuated following the Chernobyl incident and never allowed back.

This photo depicts someone who worked in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 2006, as the plant prepared to mark the 20th anniversary of the incident.

A pretty chilling juxtaposition.

With this photo taken in 2006, these Ukranian children were clearly not alive at the time of the incident—but nonetheless have been late victims, due to the fumes and radiation that lasts.

This old man is one of around 330 mostly elderly people (as of 2006) who live illegally in the villages that are settled around the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the most world's most radioactive zone.

This 2016 photo of a Belarus sign at the edge of a forest that warns of radiation contamination, and prohibits the picking of berries and mushrooms, proves that even 30 years later, effects are still felt from the incident.