Pripyat Evacuated 36 Hours After Explosion

At 14:00 on April 27 — approximately 36 hours after the explosion — Pripyat's 49,360 residents are given two hours to pack essentials and board a convoy of 1,100 buses. Residents are told the evacuation is temporary, lasting three days. Most leave valuables and pets behind. They will never return. The 36-hour delay in evacuation, during which residents were exposed to high radiation levels, is subsequently identified as a major public health failure driven by Soviet institutional inertia and fear of causing panic.