UN Deputy Secretary-General: Chernobyl became mega-crisis that transformed approaches to disaster response

She made these remarks on Friday in comments to Ukrinform during the opening of the photo exhibition “The 40th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Disaster” at UN Headquarters.

Responding to a question about the importance of remembering this tragedy, Nakamitsu emphasized that it holds special significance for the UN.

She noted that the reason was that it had been such a massive crisis at the time. She added that she was Japanese and a UN employee, and that at that time Yasushi Akashi, a Japanese national, had held the position of Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

According to Nakamitsu, he visited Chernobyl shortly after the accident.

She noted that she remembered how he had gone to Chernobyl some time after the situation had stabilized.

Nakamitsu added that the international community has learned important lessons from this disaster.

She emphasized that they had learned a great deal from those disasters, including how to prevent them and how to respond, and added that they had also seen the resilience of the people in Ukraine.

As reported by Ukrinform, an exhibition marking the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster opened at UN headquarters.

On Friday, the UN General Assembly convened for a special commemorative session marking the anniversary of the accident.