The city of Kurchatov in northern Kazakhstan are facing the consequences of nuclear testing. Between 1949 and 1989, 470 nuclear tests were carried out at Semipalatinsk. Until 1962 the tests were on or above ground. People were told to go outside for the tests, because they were carried out not just for military purposes, but also as experiments on civilians. Their effects on people and animals were continuously studied. It is reckoned that, in total, about 1.6m people in the area around Kurchatov were exposed to radiation. In Akzhar, a village near Kurchatov with a population of 1,500, every family is said to have someone who was born physically or mentally handicapped or who has died of cancer. In 1997, 488 out of every 1,000 babies born in Semipalatinsk had some health problems or defects, and 47 died.