Looking back to May 1986 – the exodus from Kiev, after the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe

From the Guardian archive Chernobyl nuclear disaster Exodus from Kiev: aftermath of Chernobyl nuclear accident – archive, 1986

5 May 1986: Moscow has seen many Russians arriving by train from Kiev in the disaster area Martin Walker The first real signs of alarm among the Soviet public began to emerge over the weekend as Russians arriving by train from Kiev in the Chernobyl disaster area, began saying frankly that they were worried by radiation.

In the last two days large numbers of unescorted children have been arriving here from the city by train, to be met by relatives and grandparents.

“I am very glad to be able to be in Moscow at this time,” a young father, with two daughters, said on arrival at the Kiev Station in Moscow yesterday. “Of course I am worried about radiation. It is not something any government can control.”

There was no sign of any organised evacuation, and the exodus seems to be spontaneous, provoked by the highly publicised visit to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster area last Friday by the Prime Minister, Mr Nikolai Ryzhkov, and the party ideology chief, Mr Yegor Ligachev, perhaps the two most powerful men in the country after Mr Mikhail Gorbachev. Their visit to the area was clearly intended to continue the official campaign of reassurance and to fend off panic. It seems to be having the opposite effect, however. ……

Japanese experts testing Moscow water, milk and foods in their embassy reported yesterday that they had found “low but distinct radiation,” which was the more alarming since winds had not carried the radiation direct to Moscow. The Japanese embassy and Japanese companies are now flying in milk, fruit and vegetables for their personnel.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Dr Hans Blix, is to arrive in Moscow today, and Soviet authorities have promised to give him “full documentation” of the nuclear accident. But it is not clear whether he will be allowed to visit the site, or if he will be restricted to Moscow.

It emerged over the weekend that some rudimentary precautions were being recommended to the Soviet population. Soviet friends report that their children in Moscow schools had been told that some foodstuffs had been accidentally infected with rat poison in the city warehouses, and that all vegetables should be scrubbed and peeled.

In Kiev, the Greek and Lebanese students still there have been warned by their Soviet liaison officials not to bathe or shower in the local water, nor to drink tap water, and to stay away from the local lake reservoir known as the Sea of Kiev. Bottled water had disappeared from Moscow shops yesterday…….. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/05/exodus-from-kiev-aftermath-of-chernobyl-nuclear-accident-archive-1986