I Lived In The USSR When Chernobyl Exploded. Here’s What I Remember

Washington Examiner:

The five-part HBO miniseries “Chernobyl” premieres on May 6. I was a kid in the USSR at the time, and I still remember when it happened.

In 1986, if we knew anything at all, we still only knew it from the foreign radio. The first time I heard about Chernobyl was from my mom. It was something about how the BBC reported there was a nuclear explosion somewhere around Kiev, and we needed to decide what to do.

I remember her face. The only emotion I could read was slight disappointment. Her voice was quiet and constrained.

My best guess is that the day was April 28, two days after the explosion. I remember it being nighttime, and adults in my family were fully focused on the “Vremya” program, which was the main Soviet TV news source. That broadcast featured a brief comment about the explosion, and the adults, who already knew anyway, had been waiting to see how the Soviet outlet would handle the situation.

Although the Communist Party bosses were informed about the incident immediately, their initial reaction was silence. The evacuation of the nearby town of Pripyat didn’t start until the following day, and in the immediate aftermath the residents went around their business, enjoying the April sun. The firefighters summoned to extinguish the flames in the hours after the explosion were not informed about the danger of their mission. Many died quickly.

Even after the disaster was mentioned in prime time, the apparatchiks in Kiev declined to cancel the annual May Day parade. As efforts to keep up appearances go, this one was anguished and desperate: they shortened the procession in half, from four to two hours. The footage from the parade was featured prominently on the May First “Vremya,” and I remember my grandmother being incensed by a citizenry so inept at reading between the lines of Soviet propaganda, they didn’t only remain in Kiev, but hung out on the streets. It confirmed her worst suspicions about parade attendees.  more here