Village of Sarjal - Semipalatinsk Victims Documentation (Kazakhstan: 1999)

Mother Sirigaisa, who lives in Sarjal, Kazakhstan, has lost two sons due to suicide. According to the local clinic, 45 young men have killed themselves in the last 10 years. The main reason is impotence and not being able to have children. Sarjal, a small village 30 kilometers away from Lake Balapan, has been severely contaminated and radiation levels are still very high. About 90 % of the inhabitants are sick due to radiation. Lake Balapan is a crater created by an atomic explosion and is just one of three nuclear test sites in the Semipalatinsk Polygon. Nuclear tests in Semipalatinsk caused wide spread radioactive contamination in Kazakhstan. Around 1.7 million people have been used as guinea pigs by the military and been severely affected by radiation. The rates of cancers, leukemia, cardio vascular diseases, bone diseases and children born with physical or mental handicaps have increased dramatically since the testing started. In 1999, UNDP declared the region a disaster zone and called for wide spread support for the people living there.