People were not evacuated from Pripyat, Chernobyl and the surrounding areas until 36 hours after the explosion. Other areas took weeks, months and even years before they were evacuated.

The explosion occurred on Apr. 26, 1986, at 1:23 am. 400 times more fallout was released than at Hiroshima. 336,000 people were resettled.

The accident was largely the result of testing an emergency cooling system.

To be continued..