Q 01/05

Built to house workers at the nuclear plant that exploded in 1986, which Ukrainian city was evacuated and never resettled?

A) Pripyat

B) Chernobyl

C) Slavutych

D) Chernihiv

Answer · why

A) Pripyat

Pripyat. Nobody in the city of 49,000 was moved until about 36 hours after the explosion; the evacuation came on 27 April, and the town has stood empt...

Q 02/05

Which abandoned Namib Desert diamond-mining town has been reclaimed by the sands?

A) Swakopmund

B) Oranjemund

C) Lüderitz

D) Kolmanskop

Answer · why

D) Kolmanskop

Kolmanskop boomed after a railway worker found a diamond there in 1908, but richer finds near Oranjemund drew the miners south; abandoned in 1956, its...

Q 03/05

Which industry built up, then emptied, Japan's Hashima Island, 'Battleship Island'?

A) Fishing

B) Shipbuilding

C) Pearl Diving

D) Coal Mining

Answer · why

D) Coal Mining

Coal mining. Mitsubishi bought the island and housed more than 5,000 people on a rock 480 metres long; when the mine closed in 1974 they all left, and...

Q 04/05

Which medieval hill town in Italy's Basilicata region was evacuated from 1963 after a series of landslides?

A) Civita di Bagnoregio

B) Matera

C) Pentedattilo

D) Craco

Answer · why

D) Craco

Craco. Landslides began emptying it in 1963 and the last residents were ordered out in 1980; the deserted hilltop then became a film set, used for the...

Q 05/05

Which Pennsylvania town was largely abandoned because of an underground coal-seam fire that has burned since 1962?

A) Centralia

B) Shamokin

C) Ashland

D) Mahanoy City

Answer · why

A) Centralia

Centralia. The fire made national news in 1981, when the ground opened under a 12-year-old boy in a backyard and his cousin hauled him out; the boroug...