Nuclear disasters like Fukushima and Chernobyl created ghost towns

Hours after the accident at the Chernobyl power plant, the worst nuclear disaster in history, residents of the city of Pripyat were going about their Saturdays as normal. Children picked wildflowers and played outside. Adults gardened, fished, and even got married.

By the following day, however, they were rounded onto buses and told to bring just a few belongings — important paperwork, personal mementos, and a bit of food. The move was only temporary, the city council said, but most residents would never return.

Today, Pripyat is still relatively abandoned, aside from tour groups that walk along designated pathways and gather inside blighted kindergartens, hospitals, and schools.

The city is perhaps the world’s most famous nuclear ghost town — but it’s not the only one.

Other major nuclear accidents have prompted evacuations that turned cities and villages into ghost towns. Here’s what some of these abandoned areas look like after the nuclear disasters.